
Class _. 

BooL 

Gopyiiglit]^?. 



CO)raRJGIIT DEPOSm 



THE SUPPRESSION 



OF THE 



AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE 



TO THE 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



1638-1870 



BY, 

VV. E. BURGH ARDT^'duBOIS, Ph.D. (Harv.) 

SOMETIME FELLOW OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
PROFESSOR IN WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY 



/^ r^ 



NEW YORK 
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 

LONDON AND BOMBAY 
1896 



A^ 






Copyright, 1896, 
Bv THE President and Fellows of Harvard College. 



1^ 



J^ 






^ 



University Press; 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



PREFACE. 



THIS monograph was begun during my residence as 
Rogers Memorial Fellow at Harvard University, 
and is based mainly upon a study of the sources, i. e., 
national, State, and colonial statutes, Congressional doc- 
uments, reports of societies, personal narratives, etc. 
The collection of laws available for this research was, 
I think, nearly complete ; on the other hand, facts and 
statistics bearing on the economic side of the study have 
been difficult to find, and my conclusions are conse- 
quently liable to modification from this source. 

The question of the suppression of the slave-trade is 
so intimately connected with the questions as to its rise, 
the system of American slavery, and the whole colonial 
policy of the eighteenth century, that 'it is diflficult to 
isolate it, and at the same time to avoid superficiality on 
the one hand, and unscientific narrowness of view on the 
other. While I could not hope entirely to overcome 
such a difficulty, I nevertheless trust that I have suc- 
ceeded in rendering this monograph a small contribu- 
tion to the scientific study of slavery and the American 
Negro. 



vi PREFACE. 

I desire to express my obligation to Dr. Albert Bush- 
nell Hart, of Harvard University, at whose suggestion I 
began this work and by whose kind aid and encourage- 
ment I have brought it to a close ; also I have to thank 
the trustees of the John F. Slater Fund, whose appoint- 
ment made it possible to test the conclusions of this 
study by the general principles laid down in German 
universities. 

W. E. BURGHARDT Du BOIS. 



WiLBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, 

March, 1896. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory. 



Page 

1. Plan of the Monograph i 

2. The Rise of the English Slave-Trade i 



CHAPTER H. 
The Planting Colonies. 

3. Character of these Colonies 7 

4. Restrictions in Georgia 7< 

5. Restrictions in South Carolina 9 

6. Restrictions in North Carolina 11 

7. Restrictions in Virginia 12 

8. Restrictions in Maryland 14 

9. General Character of these Restrictions 15 



CHAPTER HI. 
The Fariming Colonies. 

10. Character of these Colonies 16 

11. The Dutch Slave-Trade 17 

12. Restrictions in New York 18 

13. Restrictions in Pennsylvania and Delaware 20 

14. Restrictions in New Jersey 24 

15. General Character of these Restrictions 25 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Trading Colonies. 

Page 

i6. Character of these Colonies 27 

17. New England and the Slave-Trade 27 

18. Restrictions in New Hampshire 29 

19. Restrictions in Massachusetts 30 

20. Restrictions in Rhode Island 33 

21. Restrictions in Connecticut 37 

22. General Character of these Restrictions . 37 

CHAPTER V. 
The Period of the Revolution, i 774-1 787. 

23. The Situation in 1774 39 

24. The Condition of the Slave-Trade 40 

25. The Slave-Trade and the " Association " 41 

26. The Action of the Colonies 42 

27. The Action of the Continental Congress 44 

28. Reception of the Slave-Trade Resolution 45 

29. Results of the Resolution 47 

30. The Slave-Trade and Public Opinion after the War 48 

31. The Action of the Confederation 50 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Federal Convention, 1787. 

32. The First Proposition 17, 

33. The General Debate 54 

34. The Special Committee and the " Bargain " 58 

35. The Appeal to the Convention 59 

36. Settlement by the Convention 61 

37. Reception of the Clause by the Nation 62 

38. Attitude of the State Conventions 65 

39. Acceptance of the Policy 68 



CONTENTS. IX 
CHAPTER VII. 

TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE AND AnTI-SlAVERY EfFORT, 1787-1807. 

Page 

40. Influence of the Haytian Revolution ^o 

41. Legislation of the Southern States 1i 

42. Legislation of the Border States 72 

43. Legislation of the Eastern States 73 

44. First Debate in Congress, 1789 74 

45. Second Debate in Congress, 1790 75 

46. The Declaration of Powers, 1790 7^ 

47. The Act of 1 794 So 

48. TheActof iSoo 81 

49. The Act of 1803 84 

50. State of the Slave-Trade from 1789 to I S03 85 

51. The South CaroHna Repeal of 1803 86 

52. The Louisiana Slave-Trade, 1803-1805 87 

53. Last Attempts at Taxation, 1805-1S06 9^ 

54. Key-Note of the Period 9^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 
The Period of Attempted Suppression, 1807-1825. 

55. The Act of 1S07 94 

56. The First Question : How shall illegally imported Africans be 

disposed of ? 9^ 

t,-]. The Second Question : How shall Violations be punished ? . . 102 

58. The Third Question: How shall the Interstate Coastwise Slave- 

Trade be protected ? 104 

59. Legislative History of the Bill 105 

60. Enforcement of the Act 108 

61. Evidence of the Continuance of the Trade 109 

62. Apathy of the Federal Government 112 

6^,. Typical Cases Ii7 

64. The Supplementary Acts, 181S-1820 118 

65. Enforcement of the Supplementary Acts, 1S18-1S25 123 



« CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The International Status of the Slave-Trade, 17 83- 1862. 

Page 

66. The Rise of the Movement against the Slave-Trade, 17S8-1807 . 131 

67. Concerted Action of the Powers, 1783-1814 133 

68. Action of the Powers from 1 814 to 1820 134 

69. The Struggle for an International Right of Search, 1820-1840 . 136 

70. Negotiations of 1823-1S25 138 

71. The Attitude of the United States and the State of the Slave- 

Trade 141 

72. The Quintuple Treaty, 1839-1842 143 

73. Final Concerted Measures, 1 842-1 862 146 



CHAPTER X. 

The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom, 18 20- 1850. 

74. The Economic Revolution 151 

TS- The Attitude of the South 154 

76. The Attitude of the North and Congress 155 

77. Imperfect Application of the Laws 158 

78. Responsibility of the Government 161 

79. Activity of the Slave-Trade, 1820-1850 162 

CHAPTER XL 

The Final Crisis, 185 0-18 70. 

80. The Movement against the Slave-Trade Laws 168 

81. Commercial Conventions of 1855-1856 169 

82. Commercial Conventions of 1857-1858 170 

83. Commercial Convention of 1859 ^72 

84. Public Opinion in the South 173 

85. The Question in Congress 175 

86. Southern Policy in i860 176 

87. Increase of the Slave-Trade from 1850 to i860 178 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



Page 

Z^. Notorious Infractions of the Laws . . . . i8o 

89. Apathy of the Federal Government 183 

90. Attitude of the Southern Confederacy 188 

91. Attitude of the United States loi 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Essentials in the Struggle. 

92. How the Question Arose 194 

93. The Moral Movement igj 

94. The Political Movement ic)6 

95. The Economic Movement , , 107 

96. The Lesson for Americans , . 107 



APPENDICES. 

A. A Chronological Conspectus of Colonial and State Legislation 

restricting the African Slave-Trade, 1 641 -1787 201 

B. A Chronological Conspectus of State, National, and International 

Legislation, 1 788-1871 230 

C. Typical Cases of Vessels engaged in the American Slave-Trade, 

1619-1864 289 

D. Bibliography 299 



INDEX 327 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

1. Plan of the Monograph. 

2. The Rise of the English Slave-Trade. 

1, Plan of the Monograph. This monograph proposes to set 
forth the efforts made in the United States of America, from 
early colonial times until the present, to limit and suppress the 
trade in slaves between Afi'ca and these shores. 

The study begins with the colonial period, setting forth in 
brief the attitude of England and, more in detail, the attitude 
of the planting, farming, and trading groups of colonies toward 
the slave-trade. It deals next with the first concerted effort 
against the trade and with the further action of the individual 
States. The important work of the Constitutional Convention 
follows, together with the history of the trade in that critical 
period which preceded the Act of 1807. The attempt to sup- 
press the trade from 1807 to 1830 is next recounted. A chapter 
then deals with the slave-trade as an international problem. 
Finally the development of the crises up to the Civil War is 
studied, together with the steps leading to the final suppression ; 
and a concluding chapter seeks to sum up the results of the in- 
vestigation. Throughout the monograph the institution of slavery 
and the interstate slave-trade are considered only incidentally. 

2. The Else of the English Slave-Trade. Any attempt to con- 
sider the attitude of the English colonies toward the African 
slave-trade must be prefaced by a word as to the attitude of 
England herself and the development of the trade in her 
hands.^ 

* This account is based largely on the Report of the Lords of the Covt- 
mittee of Council, etc. (London, 17S9). 



2 INTRODUCTORY. [Chap. I. 

Sir John Hawkins's celebrated voyage took place in 1562, 
but probably not until 1631^ did a regular chartered company 
undertake to carry on the trade.^ This company was unsuc- 
cessful,^ and was eventually succeeded by the " Company of 
Royal Adventurers trading to Africa," chartered by Charles II. 
in 1662, and including the Queen Dowager and the Duke of 
York.^ The company contracted to supply the West Indies 
with three thousand slaves annually; but vcontraband trade, 
misconduct, and war so reduced itKhat in 1672 it surrendered 
its charter to another company for ^34,000.^ This new cor- 
poration, chartered by Charles II. as the " Royal African Com- 
pany," proved more successful than its predecessors, and carried 
on a growing trade for a quarter of*^ century. 

In 1698 Parliamentary interference with the trade began. By 
the Statute 9 and 10 William and Mary, chapter 26, private 
traders, 'on payment of a duty of 10% on English goods ex- 
ported to Africa, were allowed to participate in the trade. This 
was brought about by the clamor of the merchants, especially 
the "American Merchants," who "in their Petition suggest, that 
it would be a great Benefit to the Kingdom to secure the Trade 
by maintaining Forts and Castles there, with an equal Duty upon 
all Goods exported." ^ This plan, being a compromise between 
maintaining the monopoly intact and entirely abolishing it, was 

^ African trading-companies had previously been erected (e. g. by Eliz- 
abeth in 1585 and 1588, and by James I. in 1618); but slaves are not 
specifically mentioned in their charters, and they probably did not trade in 
slaves. C£. Bandinel, Accojint of the Slave Trade (1842), pp. 38-44. 

2 Chartered by Charles I. Cf. Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., 
America and W. Indies, 15 74- 1660, p. 135. 

3 In 1 65 1, during the Protectorate, the privileges of the African trade were 
granted anew to this same company for fourteen years. Cf. Sainsbury, Cal. 
State Papers, Col. Ser., Ajnerica and W. Indies, 15 74- 1660, pp. 342, 355. 

* Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W.Indies, 1661- 
1668, § 408. 

^ Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and IV. Indies, 1669- 
1674, §§ 934, 1095- 

^ Quoted in the above Report, under " Most Material Proceedings in the 
House of Commons," Vol. I. Part I. An import duty of 10% on all goods, 
except Negroes, imported from Africa to England and the colonies was 
also laid. The proceeds of these duties went to the Royal African Company. 



^^a 



Sect. 2.] RISE OF ENGLISH SLA VE-TRADE. 3 

adopted, and the statute declared the trade " highly Beneficial 
and Advantageous to this Kingdom, and to the Plantations and 
Colonies thereunto belonging." 

Having thus gained practically free admittance to the field, 
English merchants sought to exclude other nations by securing 
a monopoly of the lucrative Spanish colonial slave-trade. Their 
object was finally accomplished by the signing of the Assiento 
in 1713.1 

The Assiento was a treaty between England and Spain by 
which the latter granted the former a monopoly of the Spanish 
colonial slave-trade for thirty years, and England engaged to 
supply the colonies within that time with at least 144,000 slaves, 
at the rate of 4,800 per year. England was also to advance 
Spain 200,000 crowns, and to pay a duty of 33 J crowns for 
each slave imported. The kings of Spain and England were 
each to receive one-fourth of the profits of the trade, and the 
Royal African Company were authorized to import as many 
slaves as they wished above the specified number in the first 
twenty-five years, and to sell them, except in three ports, at any 
price they could get. 

It is stated that, in the twenty years from 1713 to 1733, fif- 
teen thousand slaves were annually imported into America by 
the English, of whom from one-third to one-half went to the 
Spanish colonies.^ To the company itself the venture proved 
a financial failure; for during the years 1729-1750 Parliament 
assisted the Royal Company by annual grants which amounted 
to ;^90,ooo,3 and by 1739 Spain was a creditor to the extent of 
;i^68,ooo, and threatened to suspend the treaty. The war inter- 
rupted the carrying out of the contract, but the Peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle extended the limit by four years. Finally, October 5, 
1750, this privilege was waived for a money consideration paid 
to England ; the Assiento was ended, and the Royal Company 
was bankrupt. 

* Cf. Appendix A. 

2 Bandinel, Acco^mt of the Slave Trade, p. 59. Cf. Bryan Edwards, 
History of the British Colonies in the IV. Indies (London, 1798), Book VI. 

8 From 1729 to 1788, including compensation to the old company, Parlia- 
ment expended £705,255 on African companies. Cf. Report, etc., as above. 



4 INTRODUCTORY. [Chap. I. 

By the Statute 23 George II., chapter 31, the old company 
was dissolved and a new " Company of Merchants trading to 
Africa" erected in its stead.^ Any merchant so desiring was 
allowed to engage in the trade on payment of certain small 
duties, and such merchants formed a company headed by nine 
directors. This marked the total abolition of monopoly in the 
slave-trade, and was the form under which the trade was carried 
on until after the American Revolution. 

That the slave-trade was the very life of the colonies had, by 
1700, become an almost unquestioned axiom in British practi- 
cal economics. The colonists themselves declared slaves " the 
strength and sinews of this western world," 2 and the lack of 
them "the grand obstruction "^ here, as the settlements "cannot 
subsist without supplies of them." '^ Thus, with merchants 
clamoring at home and planters abroad, it easily became the 
settled policy of England to encourage the slave-trade. Then, 
too, she readily argued that what was an economic necessity in 
Jamaica and the Barbadoes could scarcely be disadvantageous 
to Carolina, Virginia, or even New York. Consequently, the 
colonial governors were generally instructed to " give all due 
encouragement and invitation to merchants and others, . . . 
and in particular to the royal African company of England."^ 
Duties laid on the importer, and all acts in any way restrict- 
ing the trade, were' frowned upon and very often disallowed. 
" Whereas," ran Governor Dobbs's instructions, " Acts have 
been passed in some of our Plantations in America for laying 
duties on the importation and exportation of Negroes to the 
great discouragement of the Merchants trading thither from the 

1 Various amendatory statutes were passed: e. g., 24 George II. ch. 49, 
25 George II. ch. 40, 4 George III. ch. 20, 5 George III. ch. 44, 23 George 
III. ch. ()S. 

2 Renatus Enys from Surinam, in 1663: Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, 
Col. Ser., America and IV. Indies, 1661-68, § z^'j'j. 

3 Thomas Lynch from Jamaica, in 1665: Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, 
Col. Ser., America and IV. Indies, i66r-68, § 934. 

* Lieutenant-Governor Willoughby of Barbadoes, in 1666: Sainsbury, 
Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1661-68, § 1281. 

5 Smith, History of New Jersey (1765), p. 254; Sainsbury, Cal. State 
Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1669-74, §§ 367, 398, 812. 



Sect. 2.] RISE OF ENGLISH SLA VE-TRADE. 5 

coast of Africa ... It is our Will and Pleasure that you do 
not give your assent to or pass any Law imposing duties upon 
Negroes imported into our Province of North Carohna." ^ 

The exact proportions of the slave-trade to America can 
be but approximately determined. From 16S0 to 1688 the 
African Company sent 249 ships to Africa, shipped there 
60,783 Negro slaves, and after losing 14,387 on the middle pas- 
sage, delivered 46,396 in America. The trade increased early 
in the eighteenth century, i®4 ships clearing for Africa in 1701 ; 
it then dwindled until the signing of the Assiento, standing at 
74 clearances in 1724. The final dissolution of the monopoly in 
1750 led — excepting in the years 1754-57, when the closing of 
Spanish marts sensibly affected the trade — to an extraordinary 
development, 192 clearances being made in 1771. The Revo- 
lutionary War nearly stopped the traffic; but by 1786 the clear- 
ances had risen again to 146. 

To these figures must be added the unregistered trade of 
Americans and foreigners. It is probable that about 25,000 
slaves were brought to America each year between 1698 
and 1707. The importation then dwindled, but rose after the 
Assiento to perhaps 30,000. The proportion, too, of these 
slaves carried to the continent now began to increase. Of about 
20,000 whom the English annually imported from 1733 to 1766, 
South Carolina alone received some 3,000. Before the Revolu- 
tion, the total exportation to America is variously estimated as 
between 40,000 and 100,000 each year. Bancroft places the 
total slave population of the continental colonies at 59,000 in 
1 7 14, 78,000 in 1727, and 293,000 in 1754. The census of 1790 
showed 697,897 slaves in the United States.^ 

In colonies like those in the West Indies and in South Caro- 
lina and Georgia, the rapid importation into America of a mul- 

1 N. C. Col. Rec, V. 11 18. For similar instructions, cf. Penn. A?rhives, 
I. 306; Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N'eiv York, VI. 34; Gordon, Htslojy of the 
Americatt Revolution, I. letter 2; Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th Ser. X. 642. 

2 These figures are from the above-mentioned Report, Vol. II. Part IV. 
Nos. I, 5. See also Bancroft, History of the United States (1883), II. 274 ff; 
Bandinel, Accoutit of the Slave Trade, p. 63 ; Benezet, Caittioti to Great 
Britain, etc., pp. 39-40, and Historical Account of Guinea, ch. xiii. 



6 INTRODUCTORY. [Chap. I. 

titude of savages gave rise to a system of slavery far different 
from that which the late Civil War abolished. The strikingly 
harsh and even inhuman slave codes in these colonies show this. 
Crucifixion, burning, and starvation were legal modes of punish- 
ment.^ The rough and brutal character of the time and place 
was partly responsible for this, but a more decisive reason lay 
in the fierce and turbulent character of the imported Negroes. 
The docility to which long years of bondage and strict disci- 
pline gave rise was absent, and insurrections and acts of violence 
were of frequent occurrence.^ Again and again the danger of 
planters being " cut off by their own negroes " ^ is mentioned, 
both in the islands and on the continent. This condition of 
vague dread and unrest not only increased the severity of laws 
and strengthened the police system, but was the prime motive 
back of all the earlier efforts to check the further importation 
of slaves. 

On the other hand, in New England and New York the 
Negroes were merely house servants or farm hands, and were 
treated neither better nor worse than servants in general in 
those days. Between these two extremes, the system of slavery 
varied from a mild serfdom in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
to an aristocratic caste system in Maryland and Virginia. 

^ Compare earlier slave codes in South Carolina, Georgia, Jamaica, etc. ; 
also of. Benezet, Historical Account of Guinea, p. T^ ; Report, etc., as 
above. 

2 Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1574- 
1660, pp. 229, 271, 295; 1661-68, §§ 61,412, 826, 1270, 1274, 1788; 1669-74, 
§§ 508, 1244; Bolzius and Von Reck, jfournals (in Force, Tracts, Vol. IV. 
No. 5, pp. 9, 18) ; Proceedings of Governor and Assembly of famaica in 
rega7'd to the Maroon Negroes (London, 1796). 

* Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1661-68, 
§ 1679. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PLANTING COLONIES. 

3. Character of these Colonies. 

4. Restrictions in Georgia. 

5. Restrictions in South Carolina. 

6. Restrictions in North Carolina. 

7. Restrictions in Virginia. 

8. Restrictions in Maryland. 

9. General Character of these Restrictions. 

3. Character of these Colonies. The planting colonies are 
those Southern settlements whose climate and character destined 
them to be the chief theatre of North American slavery. The 
early attitude of these communities toward the slave-trade is 
therefore of peculiar interest ; for their action was of necessity 
largely decisive for the future of the trade and for the institution 
in North America. Theirs was the only soil, climate, and society 
suited to slavery ; in the other colonies, with few exceptions, the 
institution was by these same factors doomed from the begin- 
ning. Hence, only strong moral and political motives could in 
the planting colonies overthrow or check a traffic so favored 
by the mother country. 

4. Restrictions in Georgia. In Georgia we have an example 
of a community whose philanthropic founders sought to impose 
upon it a code of morals higher than the colonists wished. 
The settlers of Georgia were of even worse moral fibre than 
their slave-trading and whiskey-using neighbors in Carolina and 
Virginia; yet Oglethorpe and the London proprietors prohib- 
ited from the beginning both the rum and the slave traffic, 
refusing to " suffer slavery (which is against the Gospel as well 
as the fundamental law of England) to be authorised under our 



8 THE PLANTING COLONIES. [Chap. II. 

authority." ^ The trustees sought to win the colonists over to 
their behef by teUing them that money could be better ex- 
pended in transporting white men than Negroes; that slaves 
would be a source of weakness to the colony; and that the 
" Produces designed to be raised in the Colony would not re- 
quire such Labour as to make Negroes necessary for carrying 
them on." ^ 

This policy greatly displeased the colonists, who from 1735, 
the date of the first law, to 1749, did not cease to clamor for the 
repeal of the restrictions.^ As their English agent said, they 
insisted that " In Spight of all Endeavours to disguise this Point, 
it is as clear as Light itself, that Negroes are as essentially 
necessary to the Cultivation of Georgia, as Axes, Hoes, or any 
other Utensil of Agriculture." ^ Meantime, evasions and infrac- 
tions ©f the laws became frequent and notorious. Negroes were 
brought across from Carolina and " hired " for life.^ " Finally, 
purchases were openly made in Savannah from African traders : 
some seizures were made by those who opposed the principle, 
but as a majority of the magistrates were favorable to the intro- 
duction of slaves into the province, legal decisions were sus- 
pended from time to time, and a strong disposition evidenced 
by the courts to evade the operation of the law." ^ At last, in 
1749, the colonists prevailed on the trustees and the govern- 
ment, and the trade was thrown open under careful restrictions, 
which limited importation, required a registry and quarantine 
on all slaves brought in, and laid a duty.'^ It is probable, 
however, that these restrictions were never enforced, and that 
the trade thus established continued unchecked until the 
Revolution. 

J Hoare, Mcntoirs of Granville Sharp (1820), p. 157. For the act of 
prohibition, see W. B. Stevens, History of Georgia (1847), I. 311. 

- [B. Martyn], Account of the Progress of Georgia (1741), pp. 9-10. 

3 Cf. Stevens, History of Georgia, I. 290 ff. 

■* Stephens, Account of the Cazises, etc., p. 8. Cf. also Journal of Trus- 
tees, II. 210; cited by Stevens, History of Georgia, I. 306. 

5 McCall, History of Georgia (181 1), I. 206-7. 

« Ibid. 

■^ Pub. Rec. Office, Board of Trade, Vol. X. ; cited by C. C. Jones, His- 
tory of Georgia (1883), I. 422-5. 



Sect. 5.] RESTRICTIONS IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 9 

5. Restrictions in South Carolina.^ South Carolina had the 
largest and most widely developed slave-trade of any of the 
continental colonies. This was owing to the character of her 
settlers, her nearness to the West Indian slave marts, and the 
early development of certain staple crops, such as rice, which 
were adapted to slave labor.^ Moreover, this colony suffered 
much less interference from the home government than many 
other colonies ; thus it is possible here to trace the untram- 
meled development of slave-trade restrictions in a typical plant- 
ing community. 

As early as 1698 the slave-trade to South Carolina had 
reached such/proportions that it was thought that "the great 
number of Ajegroes which of late have been imported into 
this Collony may endanger the safety thereof." The immigra- 
tion of white servants was therefore encouraged by a special 
law.^ Increase of immigration reduced this disproportion, but 
Negroes continued to be imported in such numbers as to afford 
considerable revenue from a moderate duty on them. About 

1 The following is a summary of the legislation of the colony of South 
Carolina; details will be found in Appendix A : — 

1698, Act to encourage the immigration of white servants. 

1703, Duty Act: loj. on Africans, 20^'. on other Negroes. 

1 7 14, " " additional duty. 

1714, " " £2. 

1 714-15, " " additional duty. 

1716, " " ^3 on Africans, ;^30 on colonial Negroes. 

1717, " " ^40 in addition to existing duties. 

1 7 19, " " ^10 on Africans, ^30 on colonial Negroes. 

The Act of 1 717, etc., was repealed. 
1721, " " ^10 on Africans, ^50 on colonial Negroes. 

T TT^ li II a u u u u 

1/ — , 

1740, " " ^100 on Africans, ;^I50 on colonial Negroes. 

1751, " " £^0 " " £so 

1760, Act prohibiting importation (Disallowed). 

1764, Duty Act: additional duty of ;^ioo. 

1783, " " ^3 on Africans, ^20 on colonial Negroes. 

17S4, " " " " £s 

1787, Act and Ordinance prohibiting importation. 

2 Cf. Hewatt, Historical Account of S. Carolina and Georgia (1779), I 
120 £f. ; reprinted in S. C. Hist. Coll. (1836), I. 108 ff. 

3 Cooper, Statutes at Lar^e 0/ S. Carolina, II. 153. 



lO THE PLANTING COLONIES. [Chap. II. 

the time when the Assiento was signed, the slave-trade so in- 
creased that, scarcely a year after the consummation of that 
momentous agreement, two heavy duty acts were passed, be- 
cause " the number of Negroes do extremely increase in this 
Province, and through the afflicting providence of God, the 
white persons do not proportionately multiply, by reason 
whereof, the safety of the said Province is greatly endan- 
gered." 1 The trade, however, by reason of the encourage- 
ment abroad and of increased business activity in exporting 
naval stores at home, suffered scarcely any check, although 
repeated acts, reci.ting the danger incident to a " great importa- 
tion of Negroes," were passed, laying high duties.^ Finally, in 
1 71 7, an additional duty of ^40,^ although due in depreciated 
currency, succeeded so nearly in stopping the trade that, two 
years later, all existing duties were repealed and one of ;^io 
substituted.'^ This continued during the time of resistance to 
the proprietary government, but by 1734 the importation had 
again reached large proportions. " We must therefore beg 
leave," the colonists write in that year, " to inform your 
Majesty, that, amidst our other perilous circumstances, we are 
subject to many intestine dangers from the great number of 
l^egroes that are now among us, who amount at least to twenty- 
two thousand persons, and are three to one of all your Majesty's 
white subjects in this province. Insurrections against us have 
been often attempted." ^ In 1740 an insurrection under a slave, 
Cato, at Stono, caused such widespread alarm that a prohibitory 
duty of ;^ioo was immediately laid.^ Importation was again 

1 The text of the first act is not extant: cf. Cooper, Statutes^ III. 56. 
For the second, see Cooper, VII. 365, 367. 

2 Cf. Grimk^, Public Laws of S. Carolina, p. xvi, No. 362 ; Cooper, 
Statutes, II. 649. Cf. also Governor Johnson to the Board of Trade, Jan. 
12, 1719-20; reprinted in Rivers, Early History of S. Carolina (1874), 
App., xii. 

3 Cooper, Statutes, VII. 368. •♦ Ibid., III. 56. 

5 From a memorial signed by the governor, President of the Council, and 
Speaker of the House, dated April 9, 1734, printed in Hewatt, Historical 
Account of S. Carolina and Georgia (1779), II. 39; reprinted in S. C. Hist. 
Coll. (1836), I. 305-6. Cf. N. C. Col. Rec, 11. 421. 

^ Cooper, Statutes, III. 556; Grimkd, Public Laws, p. xxxi. No. 694. 
Cf. Ramsay, History of S. Carolina, I. no. 



Sect. 6.] RESTRICTIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA. II 

checked; but in 175 1 the colony sought to devise a plan 
whereby the slightly restricted immigration of Negroes should 
provide a fund to encourage the importation of white servants, 
" to prevent the . mischiefs that may be attended by the great 
importation of njegroes into this Province," ^ Many white ser- 
vants were thus encouraged to settle in the colony; but so much 
larger was the influx of black slaves that the colony, in 1760, 
totally prohibited the slave-trade. This act was promptly disal- 
lowed by the Privy Council and the governor reprimanded;^ 
but the colony declared that " an importation of /^/egroes, equal 
in number to what have been imported of late years, may prove 
of the most dangerous consequence in many respects to this 
Province, and the best way to obviate such danger will be by 
imposing such an additional duty upon them as may totally 
prevent the evils." ^ A prohibitive duty of ^100 was accord- 
ingly imposed in 1764.* This duty probably continued until the 
Revolution. 

The war made a great change in the situation. It has been 
computed by good judges that, between the years 1775 and 
1783, the State of South Carolina lost twenty-five thousand 
Negroes, by actual hostilities, plunder of the British, runaways, 
etc. After the war the trade quickly revived, and considerable 
revenue was raised from duty acts until 1787, when by act and 
ordinance the slave-trade was totally prohibited.^ This prohi- 
bition, by renewals from time to time, lasted until 1803. 

6. Restrictions in North Carolina. In early times there were 
few slaves in North Carolina ; ^ this fact, together with the 

* Cooper, Statutes, III. 739. 

2 The text of this la\y has not been found. C£. Burge, Commentaries 
on Colonial and Foreign Laws, I. 737, note; Stevens, History of Georgia, 
I. 2S6. See instructions of the governor of New Hampshire, June 30, 1761, 
in Gordon, History of the American Revohition, I. letter 2. 

2 Cooper, Statjites, IV. 187. 

* This duty avoided the letter of the English instructions by making the 
duty payable by the first purchasers, and not by the importers. Cf. Cooper, 
Statutes, IV. 187. 

^ Grimkd, Public Laws, p. Ixviii, Nos. 1485, 14S6; Cooper, Statutes, Wll. 

430- 

6 Cf. iV. C. Col. Rec, IV. 172. 



12 THE PLANTING COLONIES. [Chap. II. 

troubled and turbulent state of affairs during the early colonial 
period, did not necessitate the adoption of any settled policy 
toward slavery or the slave-trade. Later the slave-trade to the 
colony increased ; but there is no evidence of any effort to 
restrict or in any way regulate it before 1786, when it was 
declared that " the importation of slaves into this State is pro- 
ductive of evil consequences and highly impolitic," ^ and a pro- 
hibitive duty was laid on them. 

7. Restrictions in Virginia.^ Next to South Carolina, Virginia 
had probably the largest slave-trade. Her situation, however, 
differed considerably from that of her Southern neighbor. 
The climate, the staple tobacco crop, and the society of Vir- 
ginia were favorable to a system of domestic slavery, but 
one which tended to develop into a patriarchal serfdom rather 
than into a slave-consuming industrial hierarchy. The labor 
required by the tobacco crop was less unhealthy than that 
connected with the rice crop, and the Virginians were, perhaps, 
on a somewhat higher moral plane than the Carolinians. There 
was consequently no such insatiable demand for slaves in the 
larger colony. On the other hand, the power of the Virginia 
executive was peculiarly strong, and it was not possible here 

1 Martin, IredelPs Acts of Assembly, I. 413, 492- 

2 The following is a summary of the legislation of the colony of Vir- 
ginia ; details will be found in Appendix A : — 

1 710, Duty Act: proposed duty of ^^5. 
1723, " " prohibitive (?). 
1727 " " " 

1 73-. " " 5%- 

1736, " " " 

1740, " " additional duty of 5%. 

1754, " " " " 5%- 

1755, " « " " 10% (Repealed, 1760). 

1757, " " " " 10% (Repealed, 1761). 

175Q, " " 20 % on colonial slaves. 

1766, " " additional duty of 10% (Disallowed?). 

1769, " " " " " " 

1772, " " ^5 on colonial slaves. 

Petition of Burgesses vs. Slave-trade. 

1776, Arraignment of the king in the adopted Frame of Government. 

1778, Importation prohibited. 



Sect. 7.] RESTRICTIONS IN VIRGINIA. 1 3 

to thwart the slave-trade poHcy of the home government as 
easily as elsewhere. 

Considering all these circumstances, it is somewhat difficult 
to determine just what was the attitude of the early Virginians 
toward the slave-trade. There is evidence, however, to show 
that although they desired the slave-trade, the rate at which 
the Negroes were brought in soon alarmed them. In 17 10 a 
duty of ;^5 was laid on Negroes, but Governor Spotswood 
" soon perceived that the laying so high a Duty on Ncgros 
was intended to discourage the importation," and vetoed the 
measure.^ No further restrictive legislation was attempted for 
some years, but whether on account of the attitude of the 
governor or the desire of the inhabitants, is not clear. With 
1723 begins a series of acts extending down to the Revolution, 
which, so far as their contents can be ascertained, seem to have 
been designed effectually to check the slave-trade. Some of 
these acts, like those of 1723 and 1727, were almost immedi- 
ately disallowed.2 The Act of 1732 laid a duty of 5%, which 
was continued until 1769,^ and all other duties were in addition 
to this; so that by such cumulative duties the rate on slaves 
reached 25% in 1755,^ and 35% at the time of Braddock's 
expedition.^ These acts were found " very burthensome," 
" introductive of many frauds," and " very inconvenient," ^ and 
were so far repealed that by 1761 the duty was only 15%. As 
now the Burgesses became more powerful, two or more bills 
proposing restrictive duties were passed, but disallowed." By 
1772 the anti-slave-trade feeling had become considerably 
developed, and the Burgesses petitioned the king, declaring 
that " The importation of slaves into the colonies from the 
coast of Africa hath long been considered as a trade of great 
inhumanity, and under its present encouragement, we have too 

^ Letters of Governor Spotswood^ in Va. Hist. Soc. Coll., New Ser., 
1.52. 

2 Hening, Statutes at Large of Virginia, IV. 118, 182. 

8 Ilnd.,\y. 317, 394; V.^28, 160, 318; VI. 217, 353; VII. 281; VIII. 

190, 336, 532. 

4 Ibid., V. 92 ; VI. 417, 419, 461, 466. 5 /^/^_^ yil. 69, 81. 

6 Ibid., VII. 363, 383. '' Ibid., VIII. 237, 337. 



14 THE PLANTING COLONIES. [Chap. II. 

much reason to fear will endanger the very existence of your 
Majesty's American dominions. . . . Deeply impressed with 
these sentiments, we most humbly beseech your Majesty to 
remove all those restraints on your Majesty's governors of this 
colony, wJiicJi inhibit their assenting to such laws as might check 
so very pernicious a commerced ^ 

Nothing further appears to have been done before the war. 
When, in 1776, the delegates adopted a Frame of Government, 
it was charged in this document that the king had perverted his 
high office into a j' detestable and insupportable tyranny, by . . . 
prompting our pjegroes to rise in arms among us, those very 
^groes whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he hath 
refused us permission to exclude by law."^ Two years later, 
in 1778, an " Act to prevent the further importation of Slaves " 
stopped definitively the legal slave-trade to Virginia.^ 

8. Restrictions in Maryland.* Not until the impulse of the 
Assiento had been felt in America, did Maryland make any 
attempt to restrain a trade from which she had long enjoyed a 
comfortable revenue. The Act of 171 7, laying a duty of 405.,^ 
may have been a mild restrictive measure. The duties were 

1 Miscellaneous Papers^ 1672-1865, in Va. Hist. Soc. Coll., New Ser., 
VI. 14; Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries^ I. Part II. App., 51. 

2 Hening, Statutes, IX. 112. 

8 Importation by sea or by land was prohibited, with a penalty of ^1000 
for illegal importation and ^500 for buying or selling. The Negro was freed, 
if illegally brought in. This law was revised somewhat in 1785. Cf. Hen- 
ing, Statutes, IX. 471 ; XII. 182. 

* The following is a summary of the legislation of the colony of Mary- 
land ; details will be found in Appendix A : — 
169s, Duty Act : los. 
1704, " " 20s. 
1715, " " 

1717, " " additional duty of 40^. (?). 
1754, " « " " ioj.,total50J, 

1756, " " " " 20s. " 40J-. (?). 

1763, " " " " £2 " M- 

■ 1 771, " " " " £5 " £9- 

1783, Importation prohibited. 
6 Compleat Coll. Laws of Maryland {t^. 1727), p. 191 ; Bacon, Laws of 
Maryland at Large, 1728, ch. 8. 



Sect. 9-] GENERAL CHARACTER OF RESTRICTIONS. 1 5 

slowly increased to ^os. in 1754,^ and £\ in 1763.2 In 1771 a 
prohibitive duty of ^9 was laid ;^ and in 1783, after the war, all 
importation by sea was stopped and illegally imported Negroes 
were freed.^ 

Compared with the trade to Virginia and the Carolinas, the 
slave-trade to Maryland was small, and seems at no time to 
have reached proportions which alarmed the inhabitants. It 
was regulated to the economic demand by a slowly increasing 
tariff, and finally, after 1769, had nearly ceased of its own 
accord before the restrictive legislation of Revolutionary times.^ 
Probably the proximity of Maryland to Virginia made an in- 
dependent slave-trade less necessary to her. 

9. General Character of these Restrictions. We find in the 
planting colonies all degrees of advocacy of the trade, from the 
passiveness of Maryland to the clamor of Georgia. Opposition 
to the trade did not appear in Georgia, was based almost solely 
on political fear of insurrection in Carolina, and sprang largely 
from the same motive in Virginia, mingled with some moral 
repugnance. As a whole, it may be said that whatever oppo- 
sition to the slave-trade there was in the planting colonies was 
based principally on the political fear of insurrection. 

1 Bacon, Laivs^ I754i ch- 9. I4- - Ibid., 1763, ch. 28. 

^ Laivs of Maryland since 1763: 177 1, ch. 7. Cf. Ibid.: 1777, sess. 
Feb -Apr., ch. iS. 

* Ibid.: 1783, sess. Apr.-June, ch. 23. 

5 "The last importation of slaves into Maryland was, as I am credibly 
informed, in the year 1769": William Eddis, Letters froDi America (Lon- 
don, 1792), p. 65, note. 

The number of slaves in Maryland has been estimated as follows : — 

In 1704, 4,475. Doe. rel. Col. Hist. Neio York, V. 605. 

" 1 710, 7,935. Ibid. 

" 1 71 2, 8,330. Sc\\2i.ri, History of Maryland, I. -^"jj. 

" 1 719, 25,000. Doc. rel. Col. Hist. Nezu York, V. 605. 

" 1748,36,000. McMahon, History of Maryland, J. ■^i-^. 

" ^75Sf 46,356. Gentleman's Magazijie, XXXIV. 261. 

" 1756,46,225. McM2.\ion, History of Maryland, \. 2,^'},. 

" 1 761, 49,675. Dexter, Colonial Population, p. 21, note. 

" 1782, 83,362. Encyclopcedia Britannica (9th ed.), XV. 603. 

" 1787, 80,000. Dexter, Colonial Population, p. 21, note. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FARMING COLONIES. 

10. Character of these Colonies. 

11. The Dutch Slave-Trade. 

12. Restrictions in New York. 

13. Restrictions in Pennsylvania and Delaware. 

14. Restrictions in New Jersey. 

15. General Character of these Restrictions. 

10. Character of these Colonies. The colonies of this group, 
occupying the central portion of the English possessions, com- 
prise those communities where, on account of climate, physical 
characteristics, and circumstances of settlement, slavery as an 
institution found but a narrow field for development. The 
climate was generally rather cool for the newly imported slaves, 
the soil was best suited to crops to which slave labor was 
poorly adapted, and the training and habits of the great body 
of settlers offered little chance for the growth of a slave s}'s- 
tem. These conditions varied, of course, in different colonies; 
but the general statement applies to all. These communities of 
small farmers and traders derived whatever opposition they 
had to the slave-trade from three sorts of motives, — economic, 
political, and moral. First, the importation of slaves did not 
pay, except to supply a moderate demand for household ser- 
vants. Secondly, these colonies, as well as those in the South, 
had a wholesome political fear of a large servile population. 
Thirdly, the settlers of many of these colonies were of sterner 
moral fibre than the Southern cavaliers and adventurers, and, 
in the absence of great counteracting motives, were more easily 
led to oppose the institution and the trade. Finally, it must be 
noted that these colonies did not so generally regard them- 
selves as temporary commercial investments as did Virginia and 



Sect. II.] THE DUTCH SLAVE-TRADE. 17 

Carolina. Intending to found permanent States, these settlers 
from the first more carefully studied the ultimate interests of 
those States. 

II, The Dutch Slave-Trade. The Dutch seem to have com- 
menced the slave-trade to the American continent, the Middle 
colonies and some of the Southern receiving supplies from them. 
John Rolfe relates that the last of August, 16 19, there came to 
Virginia " a dutch man of warre that sold us twenty Negars." ^ 
This was probably one of the ships of the numerous private 
Dutch trading-companies which early entered into and devel- 
oped the lucrative African slave-trade. Ships sailed from Hol- 
land to Africa, got slaves in exchange for their goods, carried 
the slaves to the West Indies or Brazil, and returned home 
laden with sugar.^ Through the enterprise of one of these 
trading-companies the settlement of New Amsterdam was be- 
gun, in 1 614. In 1 62 1 the private companies trading in the 
West were all merged into the Dutch West India Company, 
and given a monopoly of American trade. This company was 
very active, sending in four years 15,430 Negroes to Brazil,^ 
carrying on war with Spain, supplying even the English planta- 
tions,'* and gradually becoming the great slave carrier of the 
day. 

The commercial supremacy of the Dutch early excited the 
envy and emulation of the English. The Navigation Ordinance 
of 165 1 was aimed at them, and two wars were necessary to 
wrest the slave-trade from them and place it in the hands of the 
English. The final terms of peace among other things sur- 
rendered New Netherland to England, and opened the way for 
England to become henceforth the world's greatest slave-trader. 
Although the Dutch had, thus commenced the continental slave- 
trade, they had not actually furnished a very large number of 
slaves to the English colonies outside the West Indies. A small 
trade had, by 1698, brought a few thousand to New York, and 

^ Smith, Gencrall Historic of Virginia (1626 and 1632), p. 126. 
2 Cf. Southey, History of Brazil. 

' De Laet, in O'Callaghan, Voyages of the Slavers, etc., p. viii. 
^ See, e. g., Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers; Col. Ser., America and W. 
Indies^ 15 74- 1 660, p. 279. 

2 



1 8 THE FARMING COLONIES. [Chap. III. 

still fewer to New Jersey.^ It was left to the English, with their 
strong policy in its favor, to develop this trade. 

12. Restrictions in liTew York.^ The early ordinances of the 
Dutch, laying duties, generally of ten per cent, on slaves, prob- 
ably proved burdensome to the trade, although this was not 
intentional.^ The Biblical prohibition of slavery and the slave- 
trade, copied from New England codes into the Duke of York's 
Laws, had no practical application,* and the trade continued to 
be encouraged in the governors' instructions. In 1709 a duty 
of £1 was laid on Negroes from elsewhere than Africa.^ This 
was aimed at West India slaves, and was prohibitive. By 17 16 

1 Cf. below, pp. 19, 27, notes; also Freedoms, XXX., in O'Callaghan, 
Lmus of New Netherlands 1638-74 (ed. 1868), p. 10 ; Brodhead, History 
0/ New York, I. 312. 

"^ The following is a summary of the legislation of the colony of New 
York ; details will be found in Appendix A : — 

1709, Duty Act: £2, on Negroes not direct from Africa (Con- 
tinued by the Acts of 1710, 1711). 
171 1, Bill to lay further duty, lost in Council. 
1 71 6, Duty Act : 5 oz. plate on Africans in colony ships. 
10 " " " " other ships. 

1728, " " 40J'. on Africans, ^4 on colonial Negroes. 

■t'yyf <( (( " (' " « « 

1734! " " (?) 

1753, " " 40J. " " « « (This 

act was annually continued. ) 
[1777, Vermont Constitution does not recognize slavery.] 
1785, Sale of slaves in State prohibited. 
[1786, " " Vermont prohibited.] 

1788, " " State " 

3 O'Callaghan, Laws of New Netherland, 1638-74, pp. 31, 348, etc. The 
colonists themselves were encouraged to trade, but the terms were not 
favorable enough: Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New York, I. 246; Laws of New 
Netlierland, pp. 81-2, note, 127. The colonists declared "that they are 
inclined to a foreign Trade, and especially to the Coast of Africa, ... in 
order to fetch thence Slaves " : O'Callaghan, Voyages of the Slavers, etc., 
p. 172. 

* Charter to William Penn, etc. (1879), p. 12. First published on Long 

Island in 1664. Possibly Negro slaves were explicitly excepted. Cf. 

Magazine of American History, XI. 411, and TV. F. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 322. 

5 Acts of Assembly, 1691-1718, pp. 97, 125, 134 ; Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New 

York, V. 178, 185, 293. 



Sect. 12.] RESTRICTIONS IN NEW YORK. 1 9 

the duty on all slaves was £\ \2hs., which was probably a mere 
revenue figure.^ In 1728 a duty of Afis. was laid, to be con- 
tinued until 1737.2 It proved restrictive, however, and on the 
" humble petition of the Merchants and Traders of the City of 
Bristol " was disallowed in 1735, as " greatly prejudicial to the 
Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom." ^ Governor Cosby 
was also reminded that no duties on slaves payable by the 
importer were to be laid._ Later, in 1753, the 40^-. duty was 
restored, but under the increased trade of those days was not 
felt."* No further restrictions seem to have been attempted 
until 1785, when the sale of slaves in the State was forbidden.^ 
The chief element of restriction in this colony appears to 
have been the shrewd business sense of the traders, who never 
flooded the slave market, but kept a supply sufficient for the 
slowly growing demand. Between 1701 and 1726 only about 
2,375 slaves were imported, and in 1774 the total slave popu- 
lation amounted to 21,149.^ No restriction was ever put by 

^ The Assembly attempted to raise the slave duty in 1711, but the Coun- 
cil objected {Doc. rel. Col. Hist. Nezv York, V. 292 ff.), although, as it 
seems, not on account of the slave duty in particular. Another act was 
passed between 171 1 and 1716, but its contents are not known (cf. title of the 
Act of 1 716). For the Act of 1716, see Acts oj Assembly, 1691-1718, p. 224. 
2 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New York, VI. 37, 38. 
8 Ibid., VI. 32-4. 

* Ibid., VII. 907. This act was annually renewed. The slave duty re- 
mained a chief source of revenue down to 1774. Cf. Report of Governor 
Try on, in Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New York, VIII. 452. 

5 Laws of New York, 1785-88 (ed. 18S6), ch. 68, p. 121. Substantially 
the same act reappears in the revision of the laws of 1788: Ibid., ch. 40, 
p. 676. 

« The slave population of New York has been estimated as follows : — 
In 1698, 2,170. Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New York, IV. 420. 
" 1703, 2,258. N. Y. Col. MSS., XLVIII.; cited in Hough, 

N. Y. Census, 1855, Introd. 
" 1712, 2,425. /^/^., LVI I., LIX. (a partial census). 
" 1723, 6,171. Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New York, V. 702. 
" 1 73 1, 7,743. Ibid, V. 929. 
" 1737, 8,941. Ibid., VI. 133. 
"1746, 9,107. /foV., VI. 392. 
" 1749, 10,692. Ibid, VI. 550. 

" 1756, 13,54s. London Doc, XLIV. 123; cited in Hough, as 
above. 



20 THE FARMING COLONIES. [Chap. III. 

New York on participation in the trade outside the colony, and 
in spite of national laws New York merchants continued to be 
engaged in this traffic even down to the Civil War.^ 

Vermont, who withdrew from New York in 1777, in her first 
Constitution^ declared slavery illegal, and in 1786 stopped 
by law the sale and transportation of slaves within her 
boundaries.^ 

13. Restrictions in Pennsylvania and Delaware.'^ One of 
the first American protests against the slave-trade came from 

In 1771, 19,863. Ibid., XLIV. 144; cited in Hough, as above. 
" 1774 21,149. Ibid., " " " " " 

" 17S6, 18,889. Deeds in office Sec. of State, XXII. 35. 

Total number of Africans imported from 1701 to 1726, 2,375, of 
whom 802 were from Africa: O'Callaghan, Docicnicfitary History 
of A-ew York, I. 4S2. 

1 Cf. below, Chapter XI. 

2 Vermont State Papers, 1779-S6, p. 244. The return of sixteen slaves 
in Vermont, by the first census, was an error : New England Record, 
XXIX. 249. 

8 Vermont State Papers, p. 505. 

* The following is a summarj' of the legislation of the colony of Pennsyl- 
vania and Delaware ; details will be found in Appendix A : — 

1705, Duty Act: (.?). 

1 710, " " 40^-. (Disallowed), 

1 71 2, " " ^20 

1712, " " supplementary to the Act of 1710. 

1 71 5, " " £s (Disallowed). 

1718, " " 

1720, " " (?). 

1722, " " (?). 

1725-6, " " £\o. 

1726, " " 

1729, " " £^' 

1761, " " ^10. 

1 761, " " (?). 

1768, " " re-enactment of the Act of 1761. 

I773> " " perpetual additional duty of /id; total, ^20. 

1775, Bill to prohibit importation vetoed by the governor 

(Delaware). 

1775, Bill to prohibit importation vetoed by the governor. 

1778, Back duties on slaves ordered collected. 

1 780, Act for the gradual abolition of slavery. 

1787, Act to prevent the exportation of slaves (Delaware). 

1788, Act to prevent the slave-trade. 



Sect. 13.] RESTRICTIONS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 2 1 

certain German Friends, in 1688, at a Weekly Meeting held 
in Germantown, Pennsylvania. " These are the reasons," wrote 
" Garret henderich, derick up de graeff, Francis daniell Pastorius, 
and Abraham up Den graef," " why we are against the traffick 
of men-body, as followeth : Is there any that would be done 
or handled at this manner? . , . Now, tho they are black, we 
cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it 
is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we shall doe 
to all men like as we will be done ourselves ; making no differ- 
ence of what generation, descent or colour they are. And 
those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase 
them, are they not all alike? "^ This little leaven helped 
slowly to work a revolution in the attitude of this great sect 
toward slavery and the slave-trade. The Yearly Meeting at 
first postponed the matter, " It having so General a Relation 
to many other Parts." '^ Eventually, however, in 1696, the 
Yearly Meeting advised " That Friends be careful not to en- 
courage the bringing in of any more Negroes." ^ This advice 
was repeated in stronger terms for a quarter-century,'* and by 
that time Sandiford, Benezet, Lay, and Woolman had begun 
their crusade. In 1754 the Friends took a step farther and 
made the purchase of slaves a matter of discipline.'^ Four 
years later the Yearly Meeting expressed itself clearly as 
" against every branch of this practice," and declared that if 
" any professing with us should persist to vindicate it, and be 
concerned in importing, selling or purchasing slaves, the 
respective Monthly Meetings to which they belong should 
manifest their disunion with such persons."^ Further, manu- 
mission was recommended, and in 1776 made compulsory." 

^ From fac-simile cop)', published at Germantown in 1S80. Cf. Whittier's 
poem, " Pennsylvania Hall" {Poetical Works, Riverside ed., III. 62); and 
Proud, History of Pennsylvania (1797), I. 219. 

2 From fac-simile copy, published at Germantown in 18S0. 

3 Bettle, Notices of N'egro Slavery, in Pemi. Hist. Soc Mem. (1864), 

I. 333. 

* Cf. Bettle, N'otices of N'egro Slavery, passim. 
^ Janney, History of the Friends, III. 315-7. 
6 Ibid., III. 317. 
'' Bettle, in Penn. Hist. Soc. Mem., I. 395. 



22 THE FARMING COLONIES. [Chap. III. 

The effect of this attitude of the Friends was early manifested 
in the legislation of all the colonies where the sect was influen- 
tial, and particularly in Pennsylvania. 

One of the first duty acts (1710) laid a restrictive duty of 40.^. 
on slaves, and was eventually disallowed.^ In 171 2 William 
Southeby petitioned the Assembly totally to abolish slavery. 
This the Assembly naturally refused to attempt ; but the same 
year, in response to another petition " signed by many hands," 
they passed an " Act to prevent the Importation of Negroes and 
Indians,"^ — the first enactment of its kind in America. This 
act was inspired largely by the general fear of insurrection 
which succeeded the "Negro-plot" of 1712 in New York. It 
declared : " Whereas, divers Plots and Insurrections have fre- 
quently happened, not only in the Islands but on the Main Land 
of America, by Negroes, which have been carried on so far that 
several of the inhabitants have been barbarously Murthered, an 
Instance whereof we have lately had in our Neighboring Colony 
of Nezv York," ^ etc. It then proceeded to lay a prohibitive 
duty of ;^20 on all slaves imported. These acts were quickly 
disposed of in England. Three duty acts affecting Negroes, 
including the prohibitory act, were in 1713 disallowed, and 
it was directed that " the Dep*^ Gov"^ Council and Assembly 
of Pensilvania, be & they are hereby Strictly Enjoyned & re- 
quired not to permit the said Laws ... to be from hencefor- 
ward put in Execution." ^ The Assembly repealed these laws, 
but in 1715 passed another laying a duty of ;i^5, which was also 
eventually disallowed.^ Other acts, the provisions of which are 

1 Petm. Col.Rcc. (1852), II. 530 ; Bettle, in Penn. Hist. Soc. Mem., I. 415. 

2 Laws of Peufisylvania, collected, etc., 1714, p- 165; Bettle, in Pcnn. 
Hist. Soc. Mem., I. 3S7. 

2 See preamble of the act. 

* The Pennsylvanians did not allow their laws to reach England until 
long after they were passed : Penn. Archives, 1. 161-2 ; Col. Rec, II. 572-3. 
These acts were disallowed Feb. 20, 1713. Another duty act was passed in 
1 712, supplementary to the Act of 1710 {Col. Rec, II. 553). The contents 
are unknown. 

5 Acts and Laius of Pennsylvania, 1715, p. 270; Chalmers, Opinions, II. 
118. Before the disallowance was known, the act had been continued by the 
Act of 171S : Carey and Bioren, Laius of Pennsylvania, 1700-1802, I. 118; 
Penn. Col. Rec, III. 38. 



Sect. 13.] RESTRICTIONS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 23 

not clear, were passed in 1720 and 1722,^ and in 1725-1726 
the duty on Negroes was raised to the restrictive figure of i^io.^ 
This duty, for some reason not apparent, was lowered to £2 in 
1729,3 but restored again in 176 1.* A struggle occurred over 
this last measure, the Friends petitioning for it, and the Phila- 
delphia merchants against it, declaring that " We, the sub- 
scribers, ever desirous to extend the Trade of this Province, 
have seen, for some time past, the many inconveniencys the 
Inhabitants have sufifer'd for want of Labourers and artificers, 
. . . have for some time encouraged the importation of Ne- 
gros ; " they prayed therefore at least for a delay in passing 
the measure.^ The law, nevertheless, after much debate and 
altercation with the governor, finally passed. 

These repeated acts nearly stopped the trade, and the manu- 
mission or sale of Negroes by the Friends decreased the number 
of slaves in the province. The rising spirit of independence 
enabled the colony, in 1773, to restore the prohibitive duty of 
;^20 and make it perpetual.^ After the Revolution unpaid duties 
on slaves were collected and the slaves registered," and in 1780 
an " Act for the gradual Abolition of Slavery" was passed.^ 
As there were probably at no time before the war more than 
11,000 slaves in Pennsylvania,^ the task thus accomplished 

^ Carey and Bioren, La%us, I. 165; Pom. Col. Rec, III. 171 ; Bettle, 
in Penn. Hist. Soc. illejii., I. 389, note. 

2 Carey and Bioren, Laws, I. 214; Bettle, in Penn. Hist. Soc. Mem., 
I. 3S8. Possibly there were two acts this year. 

3 Laws of Pennsylvania (ed. 1742), p. 354, ch. 287. Possibly some 
change in the currency made this change appear greater than it was. 

* Carey and Bioren, Laws, I. 371 ; Acts of Assembly (ed. 1782), p. 149; 
Dallas, Laws, I. 406, ch. 379. This act was renewed in 1768: Carey and 
Bioren, Laws, I. 451 ; Penn'. Col. Rec, IX, 472, 637, 641. 
5 Penn. Col. Rec, VIII. 576. 

^ A large petition called for this bill. Much altercation ensued with the 
governor: Dallas, Laws, I. 671, ch. 692 ; Penn. Col. Rec.,X. 77; Bettle, 
in Penn. Hist. Soc Mem., I. 388-9. 

^ Dallas, Laws, I. 782, ch. 810. » Idid., I. 838, ch. 881. 

^ There exist but few estimates of the number of slaves in this colony : — 
In 1 721, 2,500-5,000. Doc. rcl. Col. Hist. N'ew York, V. 604. 
"1754, 11,000. Bancroft, ///i-/. <?/■ 6^;///'t'^6'/a/<?j (1883), II. 391. 
" 1760, "very few." Burnaby, Travels through N. Amer.{2.dLt6.),^.%\. 
" 1775, 2,000. Penn. Archives, IV. 597. 



24 THE FARMING COLONIES. [Chap. III. 

was not so formidable as in many other States. As it was, 
participation in the slave-trade outside the colony was not 
prohibited until 1788.^ 

It seems probable that in the original Swedish settlements 
along the Delaware slavery was prohibited.^ This measure 
had, however, little practical effect; for as soon as the Dutch got 
control the slave-trade was opened, although, as it appears, to 
no large extent. After the fall of the Dutch Delaware came 
into English hands. Not until 1775 do we find any legisla- 
tion on the slave-trade. In that year the colony attempted to 
prohibit the importation of slaves, but the governor vetoed the 
bill.'^ Finally, in 1776 by the Constitution, and in 1787 by law, 
importation and exportation were both prohibited.* 

14. Eestrictioas in IJew Jersey.^ Although the freeholders 
of West New Jersey declared, in 1676, that " all and every Per- 
son and Persons Inhabiting the said Province, shall, as far as in 
us lies, be free from Oppression and Slavery," ^ yet Negro 
slaves are early found in the colony.' The first restrictive 
measure was passed, after considerable friction between the 
Council and the House, in 1713; it laid a duty of ^10, 
currency.^ Governor Hunter explained to the Board of Trade 
that the bill was " calculated to Encourage the Importation of 

1 Dallas, Lmvs, II. 586. 

2 Cf. Argonajitica Gtisfavinna, pp. 21-3 ; Del. Hist. Soc. Papers, III. 10; 
Hazard's Register, IV. 221, §§ 23, 24; Hazard's Annals, p. 372; Arm- 
strong, Record of Upland Court, pp. 29-30, and notes. 

3 Force, Atncrican Archives, 4th Sen, II. 128-9. 

4 Ibid., 5th Sen, I. 1178; Laius of Delaware, 1797 (Newcastle ed.), p. 
884, ch. 145 b. 

5 The following is a summary of the legislation of the colony of New 
Jersey; details will be found in Appendix A: — 

1713, Duty Act: ^10. 

i763(?). Duty Act. 

1769, " " ^15- 

1774, " " _;/;5 on Africans, /id on colonial Negroes. 

1786, Importation prohibited. 

6 Learning and Spicer, Grants, Concessions, etc., p. 398. Probably this 
did not refer to Negroes at all. 

"^ Cf. Vincent, History of Delaware, I. 159, 381. 

8 Laws and Acts of Neiv fersey, 1703-17 (ed. 171 7), p. 43- 



Sect. 15.] GENERAL CHARACTER OF RESTRICTIONS. 25 

white Servants for the better Peopeling that Country." 1 How 
long this act continued does not appear; probably, not lono-. 
No further legislation was enacted until 1762 or 1763, when 
a prohibitive duty was laid on account of " the inconvenience 
the Province is exposed to in lying open to the free importation 
of Negros, when the Provinces on each side have laid duties on 
them."- The Board of Trade declared that while they did not 
object to " the Policy of imposing a reasonable duty," they 
could not assent to this, and the act was disallowed.^ The Act 
of 1769 evaded the technical objection of the Board of Trade, 
and laid a duty of ^15 on the first purchasers of Negroes, 
because, as the act declared, " Duties on the Importation of 
Negroes in several of the neighbouring Colonies hath, on Experi- 
ence, been found beneficial in the Introduction of sober, 
industrious Foreigners." ^ In 1774 a bill which, according to 
the report of the Council to Governor Morris, "plainly in- 
tended an entire Prohibition of all Slaves being imported from 
foreign Parts," was thrown out by the Council.^ Importation 
was finally prohibited in 1786.^ 

15. General Character of these Restrictions. The main differ- 
ence in motive between the restrictions which the planting and 
the farming colonies put on the African slave-trade, lay in the 
fact that the former limited it mainly from fear of insurrection, 
the latter mainly because it did not pay. Naturally, the latter 
motive worked itself out with much less legislation than the 
former; for this reason, and because they held a smaller num- 
ber of slaves, most of these colonies have fewer actual statutes 
than the Southern colonies. In Pennsylvania alone did tMs 

1 N.J. Archives, IV. 196. There was much difficuUv in passing the hill ■ 
Ibid., XIII. 516-41. 

2 Ibid., IX. 345-6. The exact provisions of the act I have not found. 

3 Ibid., IX. 383, 447, 458. Chiefly because the duty was laid on the 
importer. 

4 Allinson, Acts of Assembly, pp. 315-6. 

5 N.J. Archives, VI. 222. 

^ Acts of the loth General Assembly, May 2, 1786. There are two esti- 
mates of the number of slaves in this colony : — 

In 1738, 3,981. American Afutals, II. 127. 
" 1754, 4,606. « « 11. 143. 



26 THE FARMING COLONIES. [Chap. III. 

general economic revolt against the trade acquire a distinct 
moral tinge. Although even here the institution was naturally 
doomed, yet the clear moral insight of the Quakers checked 
the trade much earlier than would otherwise have happened. 
We may say, then, that the farming colonies checked the slave- 
trade primarily from economic motives. 



^' 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE TRADING COLONIES. 

16. Character of these Colonies. 

17. New England and the Slave-Trade. 

18. Restrictions in New Hampshire. 

19. Restrictions in Massachusetts. 

20. Restrictions in Rhode Island. 

21. Restrictions in Connecticut. 

22. General Character of these Restrictions. 

16. Character of these Colonies, The rigorous climate of New 
England, the character of her settlers, and their pronounced 
political views gave slavery an even slighter basis here than in 
the Middle colonies. The significance of New England in the 
African slave-trade does not therefore lie in the fact that she 
early discountenanced the system of slavery and stopped im- 
portation ; but rather in the fact that her citizens, being the 
traders of the New World, early took part in the carrying slave- 
trade and furnished slaves to the other colonies. An inquiry, 
therefore, into the efforts of the New England colonies to sup- 
press the slave-trade would fall naturally into two parts : first, 
and chiefly, an investigation of the efforts to stop the participa- 
tion of citizens in the carrying slave-trade; secondly, an ex- 
amination of the efforts made to banish the slave-trade from 
New England soil. 

17. New England and the Slave-Trade. Vessels from Massa- 
chusetts,' Rhode Island,^ Connecticut,^ and, to a less extent, from 

1 Cf. Weeden, Economic atid Social History of New F. 71 inland, II. 
449-72 ; G. H. Moore, Slavery in Massachusetts j Charles Deane, Connec- 
tion of Massachusetts with Slavery. 

2 Cf. American Historical Record, I. 311, 338. 

8 Cf. W. C. Fowler, Local Law in Massachtisetts and Connecticut^ etc., 
pp. 122-6. 



28 THE TRADING COLONIES. [Chap. IV. 

New Hampshire,! were early and largely engaged in the carry- 
ing slave-trade. "We know," said Thomas Pemberton in 1795, 
" that a large trade to Guinea was carried on for many years 
by the citizens of Massachusetts Colony, who were the propri- 
etors of the vessels and their cargoes, out and home. Some 
of the slaves purchased in Guinea, and I suppose the greatest 
\^ part of them, were sold in the West Indies." 2 Dr. John Eliot 
asserted that " it made a considerable branch of our com- 
merce. ... It declined very little till the Revolution." ^ Yet 
the trade of this colony was said not to equal that of Rhode 
Island. Newport was the mart for slaves offered for sale in 
the North, and a point of reshipment for all slaves. It was 
principally this trade that raised Newport to her commercial 
importance in the eighteenth century.* Connecticut, too, was 
an important slave-trader, sending large numbers of horses and 
other commodities to the West Indies in exchange for slaves, 
and selling the slaves in other colonies. 

This trade formed a perfect circle. Owners of slavers carried 
slaves to South Carolina, and brought home naval stores for 
their ship-building; or to the West Indies, and brought home 
molasses; or to other colonies, and brought home hogsheads. 
The molasses was made into the highly prized New England 
rum, and shipped in these hogsheads to Africa for more slaves.^ 

^ Cf. W. C. Fowler, Local Law in Massachusetts and Cotmeciiait, etc., 
p. 124. 

'^ Deane, Letters and Docinuents relating to Slavery in MassacJuisiits, 
in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.., 5th Ser., III. 392. 

3 Ibid., III. 382. 

* Weeden, Economic and Social History of N'etv England, II. 454. 

^ A typical voyage is that of the brigantine " Sanderson " of Newport. 
She was fitted out in March, 1752, and carried, beside the captain, two 
mates and six men, and a cargo of 8.220 gallons of rum, together with 
" African " iron, flour, pots, tar, sugar, and provisions, shackles, shirts, and 
water. Proceeding to Africa, the captain after some difficulty sold his cargo 
for slaves, and in April, 1753, he is expected in Barbadoss, as the consignees 
write. They also state that slaves are selling at ^33 to ^56 per head in lots. 
After a stormy and dangerous voyage. Captain Lindsay arrived, June 17, 
1753, with fifty-six slaves, "all in helth & fatt." He also had 40 oz. of 
gold dust, and 8 or 9 cwt. of pepper. The net proceeds of the sale of all 
this was ^1,324 3</. The captain then took on board 55 hhd. of molasses 



Sect. i8.] RESTRICTIONS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 29 

Thus, the rum-distilhng industry indicates to some extent the 
activity of New England in the slave-trade. In May, 1752, 
one Captain Freeman found so many slavers fitting out that, 
in spite of the large importations of molasses, he could get no 
rum for his vessel.^ In Newport alone twenty-two stills were 
at one time running continuously;- and Massachusetts an- 
nually distilled 15,000 hogsheads of molasses into this "chief 
manufacture."^ 

Turning now to restrictive measures, we must first note the 
measures of the slave-consuming colonies which tended to limit 
the trade. These measures, however, came comparatively late, 
were enforced with varying degrees of efficiency, and did not 
seriously affect the slave-trade before the Revolution. The 
moral sentiment of New England put some check upon the 
trade. Although in earlier times the most respectable people 
took ventures in slave-trading voyages, yet there gradually 
arose a moral sentiment which tended to make the business 
somewhat disreputable.* In the line, however, of definite legal 
enactments to stop New England citizens from carrying slaves 
from Africa to any place in the world, there were, before the 
Revolution, none. Indeed, not until the years 1 787-1 788 was 
slave-trading in itself an indictable offence in any New England 
State. 

The particular situation in each colony, and the efforts to 
restrict the small importing slave-trade of New England, can 
best be studied in a separate view of each community. 

18. Eestrictions in H"ew Hampshire. The statistics of slavery 
in New Hampshire show how weak an institution it always was 

and 3 hhd. 27 bbl. of sugar, amounting to ^911 17J. lYzd.y received bills on 
Liverpool for the balance, and returned in safety to Rhode Island. He had 
done so well that he was immediately given a new ship and sent to Africa 
again. American Historical Recoj-d., I. 315-9, 338-42. 
^ 1 Ibid., I. 316. 

2 //;/;/., I. 317. 

8 Ibid.., I. 344; cf. Weeden, Economic and Social History of N'eiv Eng- 
land., II. 459. 

* Cf. New England Register., XXXI. ^1-6^ letter of John Saffin ct al, 
to Welstead. Cf. also Sewall, Protest, etc. 



y 



30 THE TRADING COLONIES. [Chap. IV. 

in that colony.^ Consequently, when the usual instructions were 
sent to Governor Wentworth as to the encouragement he must 
give to the slave-trade, the House replied : " We have consid- 
ered his Maj"" Instruction relating to an Impost on Negroes 
& Felons, to which this House answers, that there never was 
any duties laid on either, by this Goverm', and so few bro't 
in that it would not be worth the Publick notice, so as to make 
an act concerning them." ^ This remained true for the whole 
history of the colony. Importation was never stopped by 
actual enactment, but was eventually declared contrary to the 
Constitution of 1784.^ The participation of citizens in the trade 
appears never to have been forbidden. 

19. Restrictions in Massachusetts. The early Biblical codes 
of Massachusetts confined slavery to " lawfull Captives taken in 
lust warres, & such strangers as willingly selle themselves or 
are sold to us." * The stern Puritanism of early days endeavored 
to carry this out literally, and consequently when a certain Cap- 
tain Smith, about 1640, attacked an African village and brought 
some of the unoffending natives home, he was promptly arrested. 
Eventually, the General Court ordered the Negroes sent home 
at the colony's expense, " conceiving themselues bound by y^ 
first oportunity to bear witnes against y" haynos & crying sinn 
of manstealing, as also to P'scribe such timely redresse for 
what is past, & such a law for y" future as may sufficiently deterr 
all oth's belonging to us to have to do in such vile & most 
odious courses, iustly abhored of all good & iust men," ^ 

* The number of slaves in New Hampshire has been estimated as follows : 

In 1730, 200. N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 229. 
Granite Mo7ithly, IV, 108. 
Ibid. 

N. H. Province Pape7-s, X. 636. 
Granite Monthly, IV. 108. 
Ibid. 

2 N. H. Province Papers, IV. 6r 7. 

8 Granite Monthly, VI. 377; Poore, Federal and State Constitutions, 
pp. 1 280-1. 

* Cf. The Body of Libej-ties, § 91, in Whitmore, Bibliographical Sketch 
of the Laws of the Massachusetts Colony, published at Boston in 1890. 

6 Mass. Col. Rec, II. 168, 176; III. 46, 49, 84 



1767, 


633. 


1773, 


681. 


1773, 


674. 


1775, 


479- 


1790, 


158. 



Sect. 19-] RESTRICTIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 3 1 

The temptation of trade slowly forced the colony from this 
high moral ground. New England ships were early found in 
the West Indian slave-trade, and the more the carrying trade 
developed, the more did the profits of this branch of it attract 
Puritan captains. By the beginning of the eighteenth century 
the slave-trade was openly recognized as legitimate commerce; 
cargoes came regularly to Boston, and " The merchants of Bos- 
ton quoted negroes, like any other merchandise demanded by 
their correspondents." ^ At the same time, the Puritan con- 
science began to rebel against the growth of actual slavery on "^ 
New England soil. It was a much less violent wrenching of 
moral ideas of right and wrong to allow Massachusetts men 
to carry slaves to South Carolina than to allow cargoes to J 
come into Boston, and become slaves in Massachusetts. Early 
in the eighteenth century, therefore, opposition arose to the 
further importation of Negroes, and in 1705 an act "for the 
Better Preventing of a Spurious and Mixt Issue," laid a restric-^ 
tive duty of £\ on all slaves imported.^ One provision of this 
act plainly illustrates the attitude of Massachusetts: like the 
acts of many of the New England colonies, it allowed a rebate 
of the whole duty on re-exportation. The harbors of New 
England were thus offered as a free exchange-mart for slavers. 
All the duty acts of the Southern and Middle colonies allowed 
a rebate of one-half or three-fourths of the duty on the re- 
exportation of the slave, thus laying a small tax on even tem- 
porary importation. 

The Act of 1705 was evaded, but it was not amended until 
1728, when the penalty for evasion was raised to ^100.^ The 
act remained in force, except possibly for one period of four 
years, until 1749. Meantime the movement against importation 
grew. A bill " for preventing the Importation of Slaves into 
this Province" was introduced in the Legislature in 1767, but 
after strong opposition and disagreement between House and 
Council it was dropped.^ In 1771 the struggle was renewed. 

1 Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, II. 456. 
Ni 2 Mass. Province Laws, 1705-6, ch. 10. 
8 Ibid., 1728-9, ch. 16; 1738-9, ch. 27. 
* For petitions of towns, cf. Felt, Annals 0/ Salem (1849), ^I* 41^5 



32 THE TRADING COLONIES. [Chap. IV. 

A similar bill passed, but was vetoed by Governor Hutchinson.^ 
The imminent war and the discussions incident to it had now 
more and more aroused public opinion, and there were repeated 
attempts to gain executive consent to a prohibitory law. In 
1774 such a bill was twice passed, but never received asscnt.- 

The new Revolutionary government first met the subject in 
the case of two Negroes captured on the high seas, who were 
advertised for sale at Salem. A resolution was introduced into 
the Legislature, directing the release of the Negroes, and declar- 
ing " That the selling and enslaving the human species is a 
direct violation of the natural rights alike vested in all men by 
their Creator, and utterly inconsistent with the avowed princi- 
ples on which this, and the other United States, have carried 
their struggle for liberty even to the last appeal." To this 
the Council would not consent; and the resolution, as finally 
passed, merely forbade the sale or ill-treatment of the Negroes.^ 
Committees on the slavery question were appointed in 1776 and 
1777,* and although a letter to Congress on the matter, and a 
bill for the abolition of slavery were reported, no decisive action 
was taken. 



Boston Town Records, 1758-69, p. 183. Cf. also Otis's anti-slavery speech 
in 1 761: John Adams, Works, X. 315. For proceedings, see House 
Jonrnal, 1767, pp. 353, 358, 387, 390, 393, 408, 409-10, 411, 420. Cf. Samuel 
Dexter's answer to Dr. Belknap's inquiry, Feb. 23, 1795, in Deane {Mass. 
Hist. Soc. Coll., 5th Sen, III. 385). A committee on slave importation was 
appointed in 1764. Cf. House Jorirnal, 1763-64, p. 170. 

1 Ho7ise Journal, 1771, pp. 211, 215, 219, 22S, 234, 236, 240, 242-3 ; Moore, 
Slavery in Massachusetts, pp. 131-2. 

^ Felt, An?!als of Salem (1849), II. 416-7; Swan, Dissuasion to Great 
Britain, etc. (1773), p. x; Washburn, Historical Sketches of Leicester, 
Mass., pp. 442-3; Freeman, History of Cape Cod, II. 114; Deane, in 
Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 5th Ser., III. 432; Moore, Slavery in Massachu- 
setts, pp. 135-40 ; Williams, History of the Negro Race in America, I. 234-6 ; 
House fournal, March, 1774, pp. 224, 226, 237, etc.; June, 1774, pp. 27, 41, 
etc. For a copy of the bill, see Moore. 

2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1855-58, p. 196; Force, American Ar- 
chives, 5th Ser., II. 769; House Journal, 1776, pp. 105-9; General Court 
Records, March 13, 1776, etc., pp. 581-9; Moore, Slave }y in Massachusetts, 
pp. 149-54. Cf. Moore, pp. 163-76. 

* Moore, Slavery in Massachusetts, pp. 148-9, 181-5. 



Sect. 20.] RESTRICTIONS L\ RHODE ISLAND. 33 

All such efforts were finally discontinued, as the system was 
already practically extinct in Massachusetts and the custom of 
importation had nearly ceased. Slavery was eventually de- 
clared by judicial decision to have been abolished.^ The first 
step toward stopping the participation of Massachusetts citizens 
in the slave-trade outside the State was taken in 1785, when a 
committee of inquiry was appointed by the Legislature.^ No 
act was, however, passed until 1788, when participation in the 
trade was prohibited, on pain of ^^50 forfeit for every slave and 
iJ^200 for every ship engaged.^ 

20. Restrictions in Rhode Island. In 1653 Rhode Island 
passed a law designed to prohibit life slavery in the colony. It 
declared that " Whereas, there is a common course practised 
amongst English men to buy negers, to that end they may have 
them for service or slaves forever; for the preventinge of such 
practices among us, let it be ordered, that no blacke mankind 
or white being forced by covenant bond, or otherwise, to serve 
any man or his assighnes longer than ten yeares, or untill they 
come to bee twentie four yeares of age, if they bee taken in 
under fourteen, from the time of their cominge within the liber- 

^ Washburn, Extinction of Slavery in Massachusetts ; Haynes, Struggle 
for the Constittttion in Massachusetts ; La Rochefoucauld, Travels through 
the United States, II. 166. 

2 Aloore, Slavery in Massachusetts, p. 225. 

3 Perpetual Laws of Massachusetts, 1780-S9, p. 235. The number of 
slaves in Massachusetts has been estimated as follows; — 

In 1676, 200. Randolph's Report, in Hutchinson'' s Coll. of 

Papers, p. 485. 

" 1680, 120. Deane, Connection of Mass. with Slavery, p. 28 £f. 

" 1708, 550. Ibid. ; Moore, Slavery in Mass., p. 50. 

" 1720, 2,000. Ibid. 

" 1735) 2,600. Deane, Connection of Mass. ivith Slavery, p. 28 fi. 

*' 1749, 3,000. Ibid. 

" 1754, 4,489. Ibid. 

" 1763, 5,000. Ibid. 

" 1764-5, 5>779- ^<^^■^■ 

" 1776, 5,249. Ibid. 

" 1784,4,377. Moore, Slave>y in Mass., ^. ^i. 

" 1786, 4,371. Ibid. 

" 1790, 6,001. Ibid. 

3 



34 THE TRADING COLONIES. [Chap. IV. 

ties of this Collonie. And at the end or terme of ten yeares 
to sett them free, as the manner is with the English servants. 
And that man that will not let them goe free, or shall sell them 
away elsewhere, to that end that they may bee enslaved to others 
for a long time, hee or they shall forfeit to the Collonie forty 
pounds." ^ 

This law was for a time enforced,^ but by the beginning of 
the eighteenth century it had either been repealed or become a 
dead letter; for the Act of 1708 recognized perpetual slavery, 
and laid an impost of ;^3 on Negroes imported."^ This duty was 
really a tax on the transport trade, and produced a steady 
income for twenty years.* From the year 1700 on, the citizens 
of this State engaged more and more in the carrying trade, until 
Rhode Island became the greatest slave-trader in America. 
Although she did not import many slaves for her own use, 
she became the clearing-house for the trade of other colonies. 
Governor Cranston, as early as 1708, reported that between 
1698 and 1708 one hundred and three vessels were built in 
the State, all of which were trading to the West Indies and 
the Southern colonies.^ They took out lumber and brought 
back molasses, in most cases making a slave voyage in be- 
tween. From this, the trade grew. Samuel Hopkins, about 
1770, was shocked at the state of the trade: more than thirty 
distilleries were running in the colony, and one hundred and 
fifty vessels were in the slave-trade.^ " Rhode Island," said he, 
" has been more deeply interested in the slave-trade, and has 
enslaved more Africans than any other colony in New Eng- 
land." Later, in 1787, he wrote: "The inhabitants of Rhode 

1 R. I. Col. Rec, I. 243. 

2 Cf. letter written in i6Sr : N'ctv England Register, XXXI. 75-6. Cf. 
also Arnold, History of Rhode Island, I. 240. 

3 The text of this act is lost (^Col. Rec., IV. 34; Arnold, History of 
Rhode Island, II. 31). The Acts of Rhode Island were not well preserved, 
the first being pubhshed in Boston in 1719. Perhaps other whole acts are 
lost. 

* E. g., it was expended to pave the streets of Newport, to build bridges, 
etc. : R. I. Col. Rec, IV. 191-3, 225. 
6 Ibid., IV. 55-60. 
^ Patten, Reminiscences of Samuel Hopkitis (1S43), P- So. 



Sect. 20.] RESTRICTIONS IN RHODE ISLAND. 35 

Island, especially those of Newport, have had by far the greater 
share in this traffic, of all these United States. This trade in 
human species has been the first wheel of commerce in New- 
port, on which every other movement in business has chiefly 
depended. That town has been built up, and flourished in 
times past, at the expense of the blood, the liberty, and happi- 
ness of the poor Africans ; and the inhabitants have lived on 
this, and by it have gotten most of their wealth and riches." ^ 
The Act of 1708 was poorly enforced. The " good inten- 
tions " of its framers " were wholly frustrated " by the clandes- 
tine " hiding and conveying said i/egroes out of the town 
[Newport] into the country, where they lie concealed," ^ The 
act was accordingly strengthened by the Acts of 171 2 and 171 5, 
and made to apply to importations by land as well as by 
sea.^ The Act of 171 5, however, favored the trade by admit- 
ting African Negroes free of duty. The chaotic state of Rhode 
Island did not allow England often to review her legislation ; 
but as soon as the Act of 171 2 came to notice it was disallowed, 
and accordingly repealed in 1732.* Whether the Act of 171 5 re- 
mained, or whether any other duty act was passed, is not clear. 
While the foreign trade was flourishing, the influence of the 
Friends and of other causes eventually led to a movement against 
slavery as a local institution. Abolition societies multiplied, 
and in 1770 an abolition bill was ordered by the Assembly, 
but it was never passed.^ Four years later the city of Provi- 
dence resolved that " as personal liberty is an essential part of 
the natural rights of mankind," the importation of slaves and 
the system of slavery should cease in the colony.^ This 
movement finally resulted, in 1774, in an act "prohibiting the 
importation of Negroes into this Colony," — a law which curi- 
ously illustrated the attitude of Rhode Island toward the slave- 

1 Hopkins, Works (1854), II. 615. 

2 Preamble of the Act of 1712. 

8 R. I Col. Rec, IV. 131-5, 138, 143, 191-3. 4 jii^^ IV. 471. 

5 Arnold, History of Rhode Island, II. 304, 321, 337. For a probable 
copy of the bill, see Narragansett Historical Register, II. 299. 

^ A man dying intestate left slaves, who became thus the property of the 
city; they were freed, and the town made the above resolve, May 17, 1774, 
in town meeting : Staples, Annals of Providence (1843), P- 236. 



36 THE TRADING COLONIES. [Chap. IV. 

trade. The preamble of the act declared: " Whereas, the in- 
habitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation 
of their own rights and liberties, among which, that of personal 
freedom must be considered as the greatest; as those who are 
desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, 
should be willing to extend personal liberty to others ; — There- 
fore," etc. The statute then proceeded to enact " that for the 
future, no Megro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this 
colony; and in case any slave shall hereafter be brought in, 
he or she shall be, and are hereby, rendered immediately 
free. . . ." The logical ending of such an act would have 
been a clause prohibiting the participation of Rhode Island 
citizens in the slave-trade. Not only was such a clause 
omitted, but the following was inserted instead : " Provided, 
also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed to 
extend, to any^egro or mulatto slave brought from the coast 
of Africa, into the West Indies, on board any vessel belong- 
ing to this colony, and which pegro or mulatto slave could 
not be disposed of in the West Indies, but shall be .brought 
into this colony. Provided, that the owr^er of such [jjegro or 
mulatto slave give bond . . . that such f\^gro or mulatto slave 
shall be exported out of the colony, within one year from the 
date of such bond; if suchfjegro or mulatto be alive, and in a 
condition to be removed." ^ 

In 1779 an act to prevent the sale of slaves out of the State 
was passed,^ and in 1784, an act gradually to abolish slavery .^ 
Not until 1787 did an act pass to forbid participation in the 
slave-trade. This law laid a penalty of ;^ 100 for every slave 
transported and i^iooo for every vessel so engaged.^ 

1 7?. /. Col. Rec, VII. 251-2. 

2 Bartlctes Index, p. 329; Arnold, History of Rhode Island, II. 444; 
R. I. Col. Rec.,V\\\. 618. 

8 R. I. Col. Rec, X. 7-8; Arnold, History of Rhode Island, II. 506. 
4 Bartletfs Ittdcx, p. 333; Narragansett Historical Register, II. 298-9. 
The number of slaves in Rhode Island has been estimated as follows : — 
In 1708, 426. R. I. Col. Rec., IV. 59. 
" 1730, 1,648. R. I. Hist. Tracts, No. 19, pt. 2, p. 99. 
" 1749, 3,077. Williams, History of the Negro Race in America^ I. 281. 
" 1756, 4,697. Ibid. 
" i774j 3.761. R. I. Col. Rec.,V\\.^lZ' 



Sect. 22.] GENERAL CHARACTER OF RESTRICTIONS. IJ 

21. Kestrictions in Connecticut. Connecticut, in common 
with the other colonies of this section, had a trade for many 
years with the West Indian slave markets; and though this 
trade was much smaller than that of the neighboring colonies, 
yet many of her citizens were engaged in it. A map of Mid- 
dleton at the time of the Revolution gives, among one hundred 
families, three slave captains and "three notables" designated 
as " slave-dealers." ^ 

The actual importation was small,^ and almost entirely unre- 
stricted before the Revolution, save by a few light, general 
duty acts. In 1774 the further importation of slaves was pro- 
hibited, because " the increase of slaves in this Colony is in- 
jurious to the poor and inconvenient." The law prohibited 
importation under any pretext by a penalty of ;^ioo per slave.^ 
This was re-enacted in 1784, and provisions were made for the 
abolition of slavery.^ In 1788 participation in the trade was 
forbidden, and the penalty placed at ^^o for each slave and 
;!{^500 for each ship engaged.^ 

22. General Character of these Restrictions. Enough has already ^ 
been said to show, in the main, the character of the opposition 
to the slave-trade in New England. The system of slavery had, 
on this soil and amid these surroundings, no economic justifica- 
tion, and the small number of Negroes here furnished no polit- 

^ Fowler, Local Law, etc., p. 124. 

^ The number of slaves in Connecticut has been estimated as follows : — 
In 16S0, 30. Conn. Col. Rec.^Wl. i()%. 

" 1730, 700. Williams, History of the Negro Race in A/ncrica, I. 259. 
" 1756, 3,636. Fowler, Local Laiu, etc., p. 140. 

" 1762, 4,590. Williams, Histoy of the Negro Race in America, I. 260. 
" 1774, 6,562. Fowler, Z(3ta/ Zaw, etc., p. 140. 
" 1782, 6,281. Ibid. 
" iSoo, 5,281. Ibid.,^. 141. 
8 Conn. Col. Rec, XIV. 329. Fowler (pp. 125-6) says that the law 
was passed in 1769, as does Sanford (p. 252). I find no proof of this. 
There was in Connecticut the same Biblical legislation on the trade as in 
Massachusetts. Cf. Laws of Cotincciicut (repr. 1S65), p. 9; also Col. 
Rec, I. "jj. For general duty acts, see Col. Rec, V. 405; VIII. 22; IX. 
283; XIII. 72, 125. 

* Acts and Laws of Connecticut (ed. 17S4), pp. 233-4. 
5 Ibid., pp. 368, 369, 3S8. 



38 THE TRADING COLONIES. [Chap. IV. 

ical arguments against them. The opposition to the importation 
was therefore from the first based solely on moral grounds, 
with some social arguments. As to the carrying trade, how- 
ever, the case was different. Here, too, a feeble moral opposi- 
tion was early aroused, but it was swept away by the immense 
economic advantages of the slave traffic to a thrifty seafaring 
community of traders. This trade no moral suasion, not even 
the strong " Liberty" cry of the Revolution, was able wholly to 
suppress, until the closing of the West Indian and Southern 
markets cut off the demand for slaves. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 1774-17S7. 

23. The Situation in 1774. 

24. The Condition of the Slave-Trade. 

25. The Slave-Trade and the "Association." 

26. The Action of the Colonies. 

27. The Action of the Continental Congress. 

28. Reception of the Slave-Trade Resolution. 

29. Results of the Resolution. 

30. The Slave-Trade and Public Opinion after the War. 

31. The Action of the Confederation. 

23. The Situation in 1774. In the individual efforts of the 
various colonies to suppress the African slave-trade there may 
be traced certain general movements. First, from 1638 to 1664, 
there was a tendency to take a high moral stand against the 
traffic. This is illustrated in the laws of New England, in 
the plans for the settlement of Delaware and, later, that of 
Georgia, and in the protest of the German Friends. The second 
period, from about 1664 to 1760, has no general unity, but is 
marked by statutes laying duties varying in design from en- 
couragement to absolute prohibition, by some cases of moral 
opposition, and by the slow but steady growth of a spirit un- 
favorable to the long continuance of the trade. The last colo- 
nial period, from abaut 1760 to 1787, is one of pronounced 
effort to regulate, limit, or totally prohibit the traffic. Beside 
these general movements, there are many waves of legislation, 
easily distinguishable, which rolled over several or all of the 
colonies at various times, such as the series of high duties fol- 
lowing the Assiento, and the acts inspired by various Negro 
"plots." 

Notwithstanding this, the laws of the colonies before 1774 had 
no national unity, the peculiar circumstances of each colony . 



40 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. V, 

' determining its legislation. With the outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion came unison in action with regard to the slave-trade, 
as with regard to other matters, which may justly be called 
national. It was, of course, a critical period, — a period when, 
in the rapid upheaval of a few years, the complicated and 
diverse forces of decades meet, combine, act, and react, until 
the resultant seems almost the work of chance. In the settle- 
ment of the fate of slavery and the slave-trade, however, the 
real crisis came in the calm that succeeded the storm, in that 
day when, in the opinion of most men, the question seemed 
already settled. And indeed it needed an exceptionally clear 
and discerning mind, in 1787, to deny that slavery and the slave- 
trade in the United States of America were doomed to early anni- 
hilation. It seemed certainly a legitimate deduction from the 
history of the preceding century to conclude that, as the system 
had risen, flourished, and fallen in Massachusetts, New York, 
and Pennsylvania, and as South Carolina, Virginia, and Mary- 
land were apparently following in the same legislative path, 
the next generation would in all probability witness the last 
throes of the system on our soil. 

To be sure, the problem had its uncertain quantities. The 
motives of the law-makers in South Carolina and Pennsylvania 
were dangerously different; the century of industrial expansion 
was slowly dawning and awakening that vast economic revolu- 
tion in which American slavery was to play so prominent and 
fatal a role ; and, finally, there were already in the South faint 
signs of a changing moral attitude toward slavery, which would 
no longer regard the system as a temporary makeshift, but 
rather as a permanent though perhaps unfortunate necessity. 
With regard to the slave-trade, however, there appeared to be 
substantial unity of opinion; and there were, in 1787, few things 
to indicate that a cargo of five hundred African slaves would 
openly be landed in Georgia in i860. 

24. The Condition of the Slave-Trade. In 1760 England, the 
chief slave-trading nation, was sending on an average to Africa 
163 ships annually, with a tonnage of i8,OCO tons, carrying ex- 
ports to the value of ;^i63,8r8. Only about tAventy of these ~ 
ships regularly returned to England. Most of them carried 



Sect. 25-] SLAVE-TRADE AND THE '' ASSOCIATIOXr 41 

slaves to the West Indies, and returned laden with sugar and 
other products. Thus may be formed some idea of the size and 
importance of the slave-trade at that time, although for a com- 
plete view we must add to this the trade under the French, 
Portuguese, Dutch, and Americans. The trade fell off some- 
what toward 1 770, but was flourishing again when the Revolu- 
tion brought a sharp and serious check upon it, bringing down 
the number of English slavers, clearing, from 167 in 1774 to 28 
in 1779, and the tonnage from 17,218 to 3,475 tons. After the 
war the trade gradually recovered, and by 1786 had reached 
nearly its former extent. In 1783 the British West Indies 
received 16,208 Negroes from Africa, and by 1787 the im- 
portation had increased to 21,023. I^i this latter year it was 
estimated that the British were taking annually from Africa 
38,000 slaves; the French, 20,000; the Portuguese, 10,000; the 
Dutch and Danes, 6,000 ; a total of 74,000. Manchester alone 
sent iJ" 1 80,000 annually in goods to Africa in exchange for 
Negroes.-^ 

25. The Slave-Trade and the " Association." At the outbreak 
of the Revolution six main reasons, some of which were old and 
of slow growth, others peculiar to the abnormal situation of that 
time, led to concerted action against the slave-trade. | The first 
reason was the economic failure of slavery in the Middle and ^ 
Eastern colonies ; this gave rise to the presumption that like 
failure awaited the institution in the South. i-Secondly, the new 
philosophy of " Freedom " and the " Rights of man," which 
formed the corner-stone of the Revolution, made the dullest 
realize that, at the very least, the slave-trade and a struggle for 
"liberty" were not consistent. '^Thirdly, the old fear of slave 
insurrections, which had long played so prominent a part in 
legislation, now gained new power from the imminence of war 
and from the well-founded fear that the British might incite 
servile uprisings. Fourthly, nearly all the American slave 
markets were, in 1774-1775, overstocked with slaves, and conse- 
quently many of the strongest partisans of the system were 
"bulls" on the market, and desired to raise the value of their 

1 These figures are from the Report of the Lords of the Committee of 
Council, etc. (London, 1789). 



42 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. V. 

slaves by at least a temporary stoppage of the trade. Fifthly, 
since the vested interests of the slave-trading merchants were 
liable to be swept away by the opening of hostilities, and since 
the price of slaves was low,^ there was from this quarter little 
active opposition to a cessation of the trade for a season. 
Finally, it was long a favorite belief of the supporters of the 
Revolution that, as English exploitation of colonial resources 
had caused the quarrel, the best weapon to bring England to 
terms was the economic expedient of stopping all commercial 
intercourse with her. Since, then, the slave-trade had ever 
formed an important part of her colonial traffic, it was one 
of the first branches of commerce which occurred to the colonists 
as especially suited to their ends.^ 

Such were the complicated moral, political, and economic 
motives which underlay the first national action against the 
slave-trade. This action was taken by the " Association," a 
union of the colonies entered into to enforce the policy of stop- 
ping commercial intercourse with England. The movement 
was not a great moral protest against an iniquitous traffic; 
although it had undoubtedly a strong moral backing, it was 
primarily a temporary war measure. 

26. The Action of the Colonies. The earlier and largely 
abortive attempts to form non-intercourse associations gener- 
ally did not mention slaves specifically, although the Virginia 
House of Burgesses, May 11, 1769, recommended to merchants 
and traders, among other things, to agree, " That they will not 
import any slaves, or purchase any imported after the first day 
of November next, until the said acts are repealed."^ Later, in 
1774, when a Faneuil Hall meeting started the first successful 
national attempt at non-intercourse, the slave-trade, being at the 
time especially flourishing, received more attention. Even then 

^ Sheffield, Observations on American Co7nincrce, p. 28; P. L. Ford, The 
Association of the First Congress., in Political Science Quarterly, VI. 615-7. 

" Cf., e.g., Arthur Lee's letter to R. H. Lee, March 18, 1774, in which 
non-intercourse is declared " the only advisable and sure mode of defence " : 
Force, American Archives, 4th Sen, L 229. Cf. also Ibid.^ p. 240; Ford, 
in Political Science Quarterly, VL 614-5. 

8 Goodloe, Birth of the Republic, p. 260. 



Sect. 26.] THE ACTION OF THE COLONIES. 43 

slaves were specifically mentioned in the resolutions of but 
three States. Rhode Island recommended a stoppage of " all 
trade with Great Britain, Ireland, Africa and the West Indies." ^ 
North Carolina, in August, 1774, resolved in convention " That 
we will not import any slave or slaves, or purchase any slave or 
slaves, imported or brought into this Province by' others, from 
any part of the world, after the first day of November next." ^ 
Virginia gave the slave-trade especial prominence, and was in 
reality the leading spirit to force her views on the Continental 
Congress. ^ The county conventions of that colony first took up 
the subject. Fairfax County thought " that during our present 
difficulties and distress, no slaves ought to be imported," and 
said: "We take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest 
wishes to see an entire stop forever put to such a wicked, cruel, 
and unnatural trade." ^ Prince George and Nansemond Coun- 
ties resolved " That the African trade is injurious to this Colony, 
obstructs the population of it by freemen, prevents manufac- 
turers and other useful emigrants from Europe from settling 
amongst us, and occasions an annual increase of the balance of 
trade against this Colony." ■* The Virginia colonial convention, 
August, 1774, also declared: "We will neither ourselves im- 
port, nor purchase any slave or slaves imported by any other 
person, after the first day of November next, either from Africa, 
the West Indies, or any other place." ^ 

In South Carolina, at the convention July 6, 1774* decided 
opposition to the non-importation scheme was manifested, 
though how much this was due to the slave-trade interest is 
not certain. Many of the delegates wished at least to limit the 
powers of their representatives, and the Charleston Chamber of 
Commerce flatly opposed the plan of an " Association." Finally, 
however, delegates with full powers were sent to Congress. The 
arguments leading to this step were not in all cases on the score 

1 Staples, Annals of Providence (1843), P- 235- 

2 Force, Afnerkan Archives, 4th Ser., I. 735. This was probably copied 
from the Virginia resolve. 

3 Ibid., I. 600. 

4 Ibid., I. 494, 530, Cf. pp. 523, 616, 641, etc. 
6 Ibid., I. 687. 



44 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. V. 

of patriotism ; a Charleston manifesto argued : " The planters 
are greatly in arrears to the merchants ; a stoppage of importa- 
tion would give them all an opportunity to extricate themselves 
from debt. The merchants would have time to settle their 
accounts, and be ready with the return of liberty to renew 
trade." i 

27. The Action of the Continental Congress. The first Con- 
tinental Congress met September 5, 1774, and on September 
22 recommended merchants to send no more orders for foreign 
goods.2 On September 27 " Mr. Lee made a motion for a 
non-importation," and it was unanimously resolved to import 
no goods from Great Britain after December i, 1774.^ After- 
ward, Ireland and the West Indies were also included, and a 
committee consisting of Low of New York, Mifflin of Penn- 
sylvania, Lee of Virginia, and Johnson of Connecticut were 
appointed " to bring in a Plan for carrying into Effect the 
Non-importation, Non-consumption, and Non-exportation re- 
solved on."^ The next move was to instruct this committee to 
include in the proscribed articles, among other things, " Mo- 
lasses, Coffee or Piemento from the British Plantations or from 
Dominica'' — a motion which cut deep into the slave-trade 
circle of commerce, and aroused some opposition. " Will, can, 
the people bear a total interruption of the West India trade?" 
asked Low of New York; "Can they live without rum, sugar, 
and molasses? Will not this impatience and vexation defeat the 
measure? " ° 

The committee finally reported, October 12, 1774, and after 
three days* discussion and amendment the proposal passed. 
This document, after a recital of grievances, declared that, in 
the opinion of the colonists, a non-importation agreement would 
best secure redress; goods from Great Britain, Ireland, the East 

1 Force, Ainerican Archives, 4th Ser., I. 511, 526. Cf. also p. 316. 

2 yonrnals of Cong., I. 20. Cf. Ford, in Political Science Quarterly, 
VI. 615-7. 

3 John Adams, Works, II. 382. 
^ Journals of Cong., I. 21. 

5 Ibid., I. 24; Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution, I. 147; 
John Adams, Works, II. 394. 



Sect. 28.] RECEPTION OF SLA VE-TRADE RESOLUTION. 45 

and West Indies, and Dominica were excluded; and it was 
resolved that " We will neither import, nor purchase any Slave 
imported after the First Day of December next; after which 
Time, we will wholly discontinue the Slave Trade, and v.ill 
neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our Vessels, 
nor sell our Commodities or Manufactures to those who are 
concerned in it." ^ 

Strong and straightforward as this resolution was, time unfor- 
tunately proved that it meant very little. Two years later, in 
this same Congress, a decided opposition was manifested to 
branding the slave-trade as inhuman, and it was thirteen years 
before South Carolina stopped the slave-trade or Massachusetts 
prohibited her citizens from engaging in it. The passing of so 
strong a resolution must be explained by the motives before 
given, by the character of the drafting committee, by the 
desire of America in this crisis to appear well before the world, 
and by the natural moral enthusiasm aroused by the imminence 
of a great national struggle. 

28. Reception of the Slave-Trade Resolution. The unanimity 
with which the colonists received this " Association" is not per- 
haps as remarkable as the almost entire absence of comment 
on the radical slave-trade clause. A Connecticut town-meeting 
in December, 1774, noticed "with singular pleasure . . . the 
second Article of the Association, in which it is agreed to 
import no more Negro Slaves."^ This comment appears to 
have been almost the only one. There were in various places 
some evidences of disapproval; but only in the State of 
Georgia was this widespread and determined, and based mainly 
on the slave-trade clause.^ This opposition delayed the ratifi- 
cation meeting until January 18, 1775, and then delegates from 
but five of the twelve parishes appeared, and many of these 
had strong instructions against the approval of the plan. Be- 

1 Journals of Cong.., I. 27, 32-8. 

2 Danbury, Dec. 12, 1774: Force, American Archives, 4th Ser., I. 1038. 
This case and that of Georgia are the only ones I have found in which the 
slave-trade clause was specifically mentioned. 

3 Force, Atnerican Archives, 4th Sen, I. 1033, 1136, 1160, 1163; II. 279- 
2S1, 1544; Journals of Co7ig., May 13, 15, 17, 1775. 



46 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. V. 

fore this meeting could act, the governor adjourned it, on the 
ground that it did not represent the province. Some of the 
delegates signed an agreement, one article of which promised 
to stop the importation of slaves March 15, 1775, i. e., four 
months later than the national "Association" had directed. This 
was not, of course, binding on the province; and although a 
town like Darien might declare " our disapprobation and abhor- 
rence of the unnatural practice of Slavery in America"'^ yet the 
powerful influence of Savannah was " not likely soon to give 
matters a favourable turn. The importers were mostly against 
any interruption, and the consumers very much divided." ^ Thus 
the efforts of this Assembly failed, their resolutions being almost 
unknown, and, as a gentleman writes, " I hope for the honour of 
the Province ever will remain so."^ The delegates to the Con- 
tinental Congress selected by this rump assembly refused to 
take their seats. Meantime South Carolina stopped trade with 
Georgia, because it " hath not acceded to the Continental Asso- 
ciation," * and the single Georgia parish of St. Johns appealed 
to the second Continental Congress to except it from the gen- 
eral boycott of the colony. This county had already resolved 
not to " purchase any Slave imported at Savannah (large Num- 
bers of which we understand are there expected) till the Sense 
of Congress shall be made known to us." ^ 

May 17, 1775, Congress resolved unanimously "That all 
exportations to Quebec, Nova-Scotia, the Island of St. yoJuis, 
Ncivfonndland, Georgia, except the Parish of St. yoJuis, and 
to East and West Florida, immediately cease." ^ These meas- 
ures brought the refractory colony to terms, and the Provincial 
Congress, July 4, 1775, finally adopted the " Association," and 
resolved, among other things, "That we will neither import or 
purchase any Slave imported from Africa, or elsewhere, after 
this day."'' 

The non-importation agreement was in the beginning, at least, 

^ Force, American Archives, 4th Ser., I. 1136. 

2 Ihicf., II. 279-81. 3 Ibid., I. 1 160. * Ibid., I. 1163. 

5 yournals of Co7ig., May 13, 15, 1775. 

« Ibid., IVIay 17, 1775. 

' Force, Antericati Archives, 4th Sen, II. 1545. 



Sect. 29-] RESULTS OF THE RESOLUTION. 47 

well enforced by the voluntary action of the loosely federated 
nation. The slave-trade clause seems in most States to have 
been observed with the others. In South Carolina " a cargo of "^ 
near three hundred slaves was sent out of the Colony by the 
consignee, as being interdicted by the second article of the 
Association." ^ In Virginia the vigilance committee of Nor- 
folk " hold up for your just indignation Mr. yo/ui Brozvu, 
Merchant, of this place," who has several times imported slaves 
from Jamaica; and he is thus publicly censured "to the end 
that all such foes to the rights of British America may be pub- 
lickly known ... as the enemies of American Liberty, and 
that every person may henceforth break off all dealings with 
him." 2 

29. Results of the Resolution. The strain of war at last 
proved too much for this voluntary blockade, and after some 
hesitancy Congress, April 3, 1776, resolved to allow the impor- 
tation of articles not the growth or manufacture of Great 
Britain, except tea. They also voted " That no slaves be im- 
ported into any of the thirteen United Colonies." ^ This marks 
a noticeable change of attitude from the strong words of two 
years previous: the former was a definitive promise; this is a 
temporary resolve, which probably represented public opinion 
much better than the former. On the whole, the conclusion 
is inevitably forced on the student of this first national move- 
ment against the slave-trade, that its influence on the trade was 
but temporary and insignificant, and that at the end of the ex- 
periment the outlook for the final suppression of the trade was 
little brighter than before. The whole movement served as a 
sort of social test of the power and irhportance of the slave- 
trade, which proved to be far more powerful than the platitudes 
of many of the Revolutionists had assumed. 

The effect of the movement on the slave-trade in general was 
to begin, possibly a little earlier than otherwise would have 
been the case, that temporary breaking up of the trade which 

1 Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolictiou, I. 1S2. Cf. pp. 181-7; 
Ramsay, History of S. Carolina, I. 231. 

2 Force, A?fzerican Archives, 4th Sen, II. 33-4. 
* Journals of Cong., II. 122. 



48 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. V. 

the war naturally caused. " There was a time, during the late 
war," says Clarkson, " when the slave trade may be considered 
as having been nearly abolished." ^ The prices of slaves rose 
correspondingly high, so that smugglers made fortunes.^ It is 
stated that in the years 1 772-1 778 slave merchants of Liver- 
pool failed for the sum of ;!^7io,ooo.^ All this, of course, 
might have resulted from the war, without the "Association; " 
but in the long run the " Association " aided in frustrating 
the very designs which the framers of the first resolve had 
in mind; for the temporary stoppage in the end created an 
extraordinary demand for slaves, and led to a slave-trade after 
the war nearly as large as that before. 

30. The Slave-Trade and Public Opinion after the War. The 
Declaration of Independence showed a significant drift of public 
opinion from the firm stand taken in the " Association " resolu- 
tions. The clique of political philosophers to which Jefferson 
belonged never imagined the continued existence of the country 
with slavery. It is well known that the first draft of the Decla- 
ration contained a severe arraignment of Great Britain as the 
real promoter of slavery and the slave-trade in America. In it 
the king was charged with waging " cruel war against human 
nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty 
J in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, cap- 
tivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, 
or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This 
piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the war- 
fare of the Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to 
keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he 
has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative 
attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. 
And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of dis- 
tinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in 
arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has 
deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also ob- 
truded them : thus paying off former crimes committed against 

^ Clarkson, Itupolicy of the Slave-Trade, pp. 125-8. 
■^ Ibid., pp. 25-6. 
8 Ibid. 



Sect. 30.] SLAVE-TRADE AND PUBLIC OPINION. 49 

the liberties of one people with crimes which he urges them to 
commit against the lives of another." ^ 

To this radical and not strictly truthful statement, even the 
large influence of the Virginia leaders could not gain the assent 
of the delegates in Congress. The afflatus of 1774 was rapidly 
subsiding, and changing economic conditions had already led 
many to look forward to a day when the slave-trade could suc- 
cessfully be reopened. More important than this, the nation 
as a whole was even less inclined now than in 1774 to denounce 
the slave-trade uncompromisingly. Jefferson himself says that 
this clause " was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina 
and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importa- 
tion of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue J 
it. Our northern brethren also, I believe," said he, " felt a little 
tender under those censures; for though their people had very 
few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable 
carriers of them to others." ^ 

■' As the war slowly dragged itself to a close, it became increas- 
ingly evident that a firm moral stand against slavery and the 
slave-trade was not a probability. The reaction which natu- 
rally follows a period of prolonged and exhausting strife for 
high political principles now set in. The economic forces of 
the country, which had suffered most, sought to recover and 
rearrange themselves ; and all the selfish motives that impelled 
a bankrupt nation to seek to gain its daily bread did not long 
hesitate to demand a reopening of the profitable African slave- 
trade. This demand was especially urgent from the fact that 
the slaves, by pillage, flight, and actual fighting, had become so 
reduced in numbers during the war that an urgent demand for 
more laborers was felt in the South. 

Nevertheless, the revival of the trade was naturally a matter 
of some difficulty, as the West India circuit had been cut off, 
leaving no resort except to contraband traffic and the direct 
African trade. The English slave-trade after the peace " re- 
turned to its former state," and was by 1784 sending 20,000 

1 Jefferson, Works (Washington, 1853-4), I. 23-4. On the Declaration 
as an anti-slavery document, cf. Elliot, Debates (1861), I. 89. 

2 Jefferson, Works (Washington, 1853-4), I. 19. 

4 



50 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. V, 

slaves annually to the West Indies.^ Just how large the 
trade to the continent was at this time there are few means of 
ascertaining; it is certain that there was a general reopening 
of the trade in the Carolinas and Georgia, and that the New 
England traders participated in it. This traffic undoubtedly- 
reached considerable proportions; and through the direct Afri- 
can trade and the illicit West India trade many thousands of 
Negroes came into the United States during the years 1783- 
1787.2 

Meantime there was slo\vly arising a significant divergence 
of opinion on the subject. Probably the whole country still 
regarded both slavery and the slave-trade as temporary; but 
the Middle States expected to see the abolition of both within 
a generation, while the South scarcely thought it probable to 
prohibit even the slave-trade in that short time. Such a differ- 
ence might, in all probability, have been satisfactorily adjusted, 
if both parties had recognized the real gravity of the matter. 
As it was, both regarded it as a problem of secondary impor- 
tance, to be solved after many other more pressing ones had 
been disposed of. The anti-slavery men had seen slavery die 
in their own communities, and expected it to die the same way 
in others, with as little active effort on their own part. The 
Southern planters, born and reared in a slave system, thought 
that some day the system might change, and possibly disap- 
pear; but active effort to this end on their part was ever far- 
thest from their thoughts. Here, then, began that fatal policy 
toward slavery and the slave-trade that characterized the na- 
tion for three-quarters of a century, the policy of laisscz-fairc, 
laisscz-passer. 

31. The Action of the Confederation. The slave-trade was hardly 
touched upon in the Congress of the Confederation, except in 
the ordinance respecting the capture of slaves, and on the oc- 
casion of the Quaker petition against the trade, although, dur- 
ing the debate on the Articles of Confederation, the counting 

^ Clarkson, Impolicy of the Slave-Trade, pp. 25-6 ; Report, etc., as above. 

2 Witness the many high duty acts on slaves, and the revenue derived 
therefrom. Massachusetts had sixty distilleries running in 1783. Cf. Shef- 
field, Observations on American Cofmnerce., p. 267. 



Sect. 31.] ACTION OF THE CONFEDERATION. 5 1 

of slaves as well as of freemen in the apportionment of taxes 
was urged as a measure that would check further importation 
of Negroes. " It is our duty," said Wilson of Pennsylvania, 
'* to lay every discouragement on the importation of slaves; 
but this amendment [i. e., to count two slaves as one freeman] 
would give \\\q. jus iriuni liberoruvi to him who Would import 
slaves."^ The matter was finally compromised by apportioning 
requisitions according to the value of land and buildings. 

After the Articles went into operation, an ordinance in regard 
to the recapture of fugitive slaves provided that, if the capture 
was made on the sea below high-water mark, and the Negro 
was not claimed, he should be freed. Matthews of South Caro- 
lina demanded the yeas and nays on this proposition, with the 
result that only the vote of his State was recorded against it.- 

On Tuesday, October 3, 1783, a deputation from the Yearly 
Meeting of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware Friends 
asked leave to present a petition. Leave was granted the fol- 
lowing day,^ but no further minute appears. According to 
the report of the Friends, the petition was against the slave- 
trade ; and " though the Christian rectitude of the concern was 
by the Delegates generally acknowledged, yet not being vested 
with the powers of legislation, they declined promoting any 
public remedy against the gross national iniquity of trafficking 
in the persons of fellow-men." ^ 

The only legislative activity in regard to the trade during 
the Confederation was taken by the individual States.'^ Before 
1778 Connecticut, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Vir- 
ginia had by law stopped the further importation of slaves, and 
importation had practically ceased in all the New England and 
Middle States, including Maryland. In consequence of the 
revival of the slave-trade after the War, there was then a lull in 
State activity until 1786, when North Carolina laid a prohibitive 

1 Elliot, Debates, I. 72-3. Cf. Art. 8 of the Articles of Confederation. 

2 Journals of Cong., 17S1, June 25; July 18; Sept. 21, 27; Nov. 8, 13, 
30; Dec. 4. 

3 Ibid., 1782-3, pp. 418-9, 425. 

* Annals of Cong., i Cong. 2 sess. p. 1183. 
^ Cf. above, chapters ii., iii., iv. 



52 THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. V. 

duty, and South Carolina, a year later, began her series of tem- 
porary prohibitions. In 1 787-1 788 the New England States 
forbade the participation of their citizens in the traffic. It was 
this wave of legislation against the traffic which did so much to 
blind the nation as to the strong hold which slavery still had 
on the country. 

V 



:^F 



4# 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 1787. 

32. The First Proposition. 

33. The General Debate. 

34. The Special Committee and the " Bargain." 

35. The Appeal to the Convention. 

36. Settlement by the Convention. 

37. Reception of the Clause by the Nation. 

38. Attitude of the State Conventions. 

39. Acceptance of the Policy. ^ 

32. The First Proposition. Slavery occupied no prominent 
place in the Convention called to remedy the glaring defects of 
the Confederation, for the obvious reason that few of the dele- 
gates thought it expedient to touch a delicate subject which, 
if let alone, bade fair to settle itself in a manner satisfactory to 
all. Consequently, neither slavery nor the slave-trade is specifi- 
cally mentioned in the delegates' credentials of any of the 
States, nor in Randolph's, Pinckney's, or Hamilton's plans, nor 
in Paterson's propositions. Indeed, the debate from May 14 to 
June 19, when the Committee of the Whole reported, touched 
the subject only in the matter of the ratio of representation 
of slaves. With this same exception, the report of the Committee 
of the Whole contained no reference to slavery or the slave- 
trade, and the twenty-three resolutions of the Convention re- 
ferred to the Committee of Detail, July 23 and 26, maintain the 
same silence. 

The latter committee, consisting of Rutledge, Randolph, 
Gorham, Ellsworth, and Wilson, reported a draft of the Con- 
stitution August 6, 1787. The committee had, in its delibera- 
tions, probably made use of a draft of a national Constitution 
made by Edmund Randolph.^ One clause of this provided that 

1 Conway, Life and Papers of Edmund Randolph, ch. ix. 



54 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

" no State shall lay a duty on imports; " and, also, " i. No duty 
on exports. 2. No prohibition on such inhabitants as the 
United States think proper to admit. 3. No duties by way 
of such prohibition." It does not appear that any reference to 
Negroes was here intended. In the extant copy, however, notes 
in Edward Rutledge's handwriting change the second clause to 
" No prohibition on such inhabitants or people as the several 
States think proper to admit." ^ In the report, August 6, these 
clauses take the following form : — 

"Article VII. Section 4. No tax or duty shall be laid by the legisla- 
ture on articles exported from any state ; nor on the migration or 
importation of such persons as the several states shall think proper to 
admit ; nor shall such migration or importation be prohibited." ^ 

33. The General Debate. This, of course, referred both to 
immigrants (" migration ") and to slaves (" importation ").^ 
Debate on this section began Tuesday, August 22, and lasted 
two days. Luther Martin of Maryland precipitated the discus- 
sion by a proposition to alter the section so as to allow a 
prohibition or tax on the importation of slaves. The debate 
immediately became general, being carried on principally by 
Rutledge, the Pinckneys, and Williamson from the Carolinas; 
Baldwin of Georgia; Mason, Madison, and Randolph of Vir- 
ginia; Wilson and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania; Dick- 
inson of Delaware ; and Ellsworth, Sherman, Gerry, King, and 
Langdon of New England.* 

In this debate the moral arguments were prominent. Colonel 
George Mason of Virginia denounced the traffic in slaves as 
" infernal; " Luther Martin of Maryland regarded it as " incon- 
sistent with the principles of the revolution, and dishonorable to 
the American character," "Every principle of honor and 
safety," declared John Dickinson of Delaware, " demands the 
exclusion of slaves." Indeed, Mason solemnly averred that the 

* Conway, Life and Papers of Ed/nund Randolph, p. jS. 
2 Elliot, Debates, I. 227. 

' Cf. Conway, Life and Papers of Edtimnd RandoIpJt, pp. 78-9. 
^ For the following debate, Madison's notes (Elliot, Debates, V. 457 ff.) 
are mainly followed. 



Sect. 33-] THE GENERAL DEBATE. 55 

crime of slavery might yet bring the judgment of God on the 
nation. On the other side, Rutledge of South CaroHna bhintly 
declared that religion and humanity had nothing to do with the 
question, that it was a matter of " interest " alone. Gerry of 
Massachusetts wished merely to refrain from giving direct 
sanction to the trade, while others contented themselves with 
pointing out the inconsistency of condemning the slave-trade 
and defending slavery. ^ 

The difficulty of the whole argument, from the moral stand- ' 
point, lay in the fact that it was completely checkmated by the 
obstinate attitude of South Carolina and Georgia. Their dele- 
gates — Baldwin, the Pinckneys, Rutledge, and others — asserted 
flatly, not less than a half-dozen times during the debate, that 
these States " can never receive the plan if it prohibits the slave- 
trade; " that " if the Convention thought" that these States 
would consent to a stoppage of the slave-trade, " the expec- 
tation is vain." ^ By this stand all argument from the moral 
standpoint was virtually silenced, for the Convention evidently 
agreed with Roger Sherman of Connecticut that " it was better 
to let the Southern States import slaves than to part with those 
States." 

In such a dilemma the Convention listened not unwillingly to 
the lion possumiis arguments of the States' Rights advocates. 
The " morality and wisdom " of slavery, declared Ellsworth of 
Connecticut, " are considerations belonging to the States them- 
selves;" let every State "import what it pleases;" the Con- 
federation has not " meddled " with the question, why should 
the Union? It is a dangerous symptom of centralization, cried 
Baldwin of Georgia ; the " central States " wish to be the 
" vortex for everything," even matters of " a local nature." The 
national government, said Gerry of Massachusetts, had nothing 
to do with slavery in the States ; it had only to refrain from 
giving direct sanction to the system. Others opposed this 
whole argument, declaring, with Langdon of New Hampshire, 
that Congress ought to have this power, since, as Dickinson 
tartly remarked, " The true question was, w^hether the national 
happiness would be promoted or impeded by the importation ; 
^ Cf. Elliot, Debates, N ., passim. 



56 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

and this question ought to be left to the national government, 
not to the states particularly interested." 

Beside these arguments as to the riglit of the trade and the 
proper seat of authority over it, many arguments of general 
expediency were introduced. From an economic standpoint, 
for instance, General C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina *' con- 
tended, that the importation of slaves would be for the interest 
of the whole Union. The more slaves, the more produce." 
Rutledge of the same State declared : " If the Northern States 
consult their interest, they will not oppose the increase of slaves, 
which will increase the commodities of which they will become 
the carriers." This sentiment found a more or less conscious 
echo in the words of Ellsworth of Connecticut, " What enriches 
a part enriches the whole." It was, moreover, broadly hinted 
that the zeal of Maryland and Virginia against the trade had an 
economic rather than a humanitarian motive, since they had 
slaves enough and to spare, and wished to sell them at a high 
price to South Carolina and Georgia, who needed more. In 
such case restrictions would unjustly discriminate against the 
latter States. The argument from history was barely touched 
upon. Only once was there an allusion to " the example of all 
the world" ** in all ages" to justify slavery,^ and once came the 
counter declaration that " Greece and Rome were made unhappy 
by their slaves." '^ On the other hand, the military weakness 
of slavery in the late war led to many arguments on that score. 
Luther Martin and George Mason dwelt on the danger of a ser- 
vile class in war and insurrection ; while Rutledge hotly replied 
that he "would readily exempt the other states from the obli- 
gation to protect the Southern against them ; " and Ellsworth 
thought that the very danger would " become a motive to kind 
treatment." The desirability of keeping slavery out of the 
West was once mentioned as an argument against the trade: 
to this all seemed tacitly to agree.^ 

Throughout the debate it is manifest that the Convention 
had no desire really to enter upon a general slavery argument. 

^ By Charles Pinckne}'. 

^ By John Dickinson. 

s Mentioned in the speech of George Mason. 



Sect. 33-] THE GENERAL DEBATE. 57 

The broader and more theoretic aspects of the question were 
but Hghtly touched upon here and there. Undoubtedly, most 
of the members would have much preferred not to raise the 
question at all ; but, as it was raised, the differences of opinion 
were too manifest to be ignored, and the Convention, after its 
first perplexity, gradually and perhaps too willingly set itself 
to work to find some " middle ground " on which all parties 
could stand. The way to this compromise was pointed out 
by the South, The most radical pro-slavery arguments always 
ended with the opinion that " if the Southern States were let 
alone, they will probably of themselves stop importations." ^ 
To be sure, General Pinckney admitted that, " candidly, he did 
not think South Carolina would stop her importations of slaves 
in any short time;" nevertheless, the Convention "observed," 
with Roger Sherman, " that the abolition of slavery seemed to be 
going on in the United States, and that the good sense of the 
several states would probably by degrees complete it." Eco- 
nomic forces were evoked to eke out moral motives : when the 
South had its full quota of slaves, like Virginia it too would 
abolish the trade ; free labor was bound finally to drive out 
slave labor. Thus the chorus of " iaissca-fairc " increased ; and 
compromise seemed at least in sight, when Connecticut cried, 
" Let the trade alone ! " and Georgia denounced it as an " evil." 
Some few discordant notes were heard, as, for instance, when 
Wilson of Pennsylvania made the uncomforting remark, " If 
South Carolina and Georgia were themselves disposed to get 
rid of the importation of slaves in a short time, as had been 
suggested, they would never refuse to unite because the impor- 
tation might be prohibited." 

With the spirit of compromise in the air, it was not long 
before the general terms were clear. The slavery side was 
strongly intrenched, and had a clear and definite demand. The 
forces of freedom were, on the contrary, divided by important 
conflicts of interest, and animated by no very strong and decided 
anti-slavery spirit with settled aims. Under such circumstances, 

^ Charles Pinckney. Baldwin of Georgia said that if the State were 
left to herself, " she may probably put a stop to the evil " : Elliot, Debates, 
V. 459- 



58 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

it was easy for the Convention to miss the opportunity for a 
really great compromise, and to descend to a scheme that 
savored unpleasantly of " log-rolling." The student of the 
situation will always have good cause to believe that a more 
sturdy and definite anti-slavery stand at this point might have 
changed history for the better. 

34. The Special Committee and the "Bargain." Since the 
debate had, in the first place, arisen from a proposition to tax 
the importation of slaves, the yielding of this point by the South 
was the first move toward compromise. To all but the doc- 
trinaires, who shrank from taxing men as property, the argu- 
meilt that the failure to tax slaves was equivalent to a bounty, 
was conclusive. With this point settled, Randolph voiced the 
general sentiment, when he declared that he " was for commit- 
ting, in order that some middle ground might, if possible, be 
found." Finally, Gouverneur Morris discovered the " middle 
ground," in his suggestion that the whole subject be committed, 
" including the clauses relating to taxes on exports and to a 
navigation act. These things," said he, " may form a bargain 
among the Northern and Southern States." This was quickly 
assented to ; and sections four and five, on slave-trade and capi- 
tation tax, were committed by a vote of 7 to 3,^ and section six, 
on navigation acts, by a vote of 9 to 2? All three clauses 
were referred to the following committee: Langdon of New 
Hampshire, King of Massachusetts, Johnson of Connecticut, 
Livingston of New Jersey, Clymer of Pennsylvania, Dickin- 
son of Delaware, Martin of Maryland, Madison of Virginia, 
Williamson of North Carolina, General Pinckney of South 
Carolina, and Baldwin of Georgia. 

The fullest account of the proceedings of this committee is 
given in Luther Martin's letter to his constituents, and is con- 
firmed in its main particulars by similar reports of other dele- 
gates. Martin writes: "A committee of ojie member from 
each state was chosen by ballot, to take this part of the system 

^ Afhi'viative : Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, South Carolina, Georgia, — 7. A^egative : New Hampshire, Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, — 3. Absent: Massachusetts, — i. 

2 Negative: Connecticut and New Jersey. 



Sect. 35.] THE APPEAL TO THE CONVENTION. 59 

under their consideration, and to endeavor to agree upon some 
report which should reconcile those states [i. e., South Carolina 
and Georgia]. To this committee also was referred the follow- 
ing proposition, which had been reported by the committee of 
detail, viz. : ' No navigation act shall be passed without the 
assent of two thirds of the members present in each house ' — a 
proposition which the staple and commercial states were solici- 
tous to retain, lest their commerce should be placed too much 
under the power of the Eastern States, but which these last 
States were as anxious to reject. This committee — of which 
also I had the honor to be a member — met, and took imder 
their consideration the subjects committed to them. I found 
the Eastern States, notwithstanding their aversion to slavery, 
were very willing to indulge the Southern States at least with a 
temporary liberty to prosecute the slave trade, provided the 
Southern States would, in their turn, gratify tliem, by laying no 
restriction on navigation acts ; and after a very little time, the 
committee, by a great majority, agreed on a report, by which 
the general government was to be prohibited from preventing 
the importation of slaves for a limited time, and the restrictive 
clause relative to navigation acts was to be omitted." ^ 

That the " bargain " was soon made is proven by the fact 
that the committee reported the very next day, Friday, August 
24, and that on Saturday the report was taken up. It was as 
follows: "Strike out so much of the fourth section as was 
referred to the committee, and insert ' The migration or impor- 
tation of such persons as the several states, now existing, shall 
think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the legislature 
prior to the year 1800 ; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such 
migration or importation, at a rate not exceeding the average of 
the duties laid on imports.' The fifth section to remain as in the 
report. The sixth section to be stricken out." - 

35. The Appeal to tlie Convention. The ensuing debate,^ 
which lasted only a part of the day, was evidently a sort of 

1 Luther Martin's letter, in Elliot, Debates, I. 373. Cf. explanations of 
delegates in the South Carolina, North Carolina, and other conventions. 

2 Elliot, Debates, V. 471. 

2 Saturday, Aug. 25, 17S7. 



6o THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

appeal to the House on the decisions of the committee. It 
throws hght on the points of disagreement. General Pinckney 
first proposed to extend the slave-trading limit to 1808, and 
Gorham of Massachusetts seconded the motion. This brought 
a spirited protest from Madison: "Twenty years will produce 
all the mischief that can be apprehended from the liberty to 
import slaves. So long a term will be more dishonorable to the 
American character than to say nothing about it in the Consti- 
tution." ^ There was, however, evidently another " bargain " 
here ; for, without farther debate, the South and the East voted 
the extension, 7 to 4, only New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- 
ware, and Virginia objecting. The ambiguous phraseology of 
the whole slave-trade section as reported did not pass without 
comment; Gouverneur Morris would have it read: "The im- 
portation of slaves into North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Georgia, shall not be prohibited," etc.^ This emendation was, 
however, too painfully truthful for the doctrinaires, and was, 
amid a score of objections, withdrawn. The taxation clause 
also was manifestly too vague for practical use, and Baldwin of 
Georgia wished to amend it by inserting " common impost on 
articles not enumerated," in lieu of the " average " duty.^ This 
minor point gave rise to considerable argument : Sherman and 
Madison deprecated any such recognition of property in man 
as taxing would imply; Mason and Gorham argued that the 
tax restrained the trade; while King, Langdon, and General 
Pinckney contented themselves with the remark that this clause 
was "the price of the first part." Finally, it was unanimously 
agreed to make the duty " not exceeding ten dollars for each 
person." ^ 

Southern interests now being safe, some Southern members 
attempted, a few days later, to annul the " bargain " by restoring 
the requirement of a two-thirds vote in navigation acts. Charles 
Pinckney made the motion, in an elaborate speech designed to 
show the conflicting commercial interests of the States; he de- 
clared that " The power of regulating commerce was a pure 

^ Elliot, Debates., V. 477. 

2 Ibid. Dickinson made a similar motion, which was disagreed to : Ibid. 

8 Ibid., V. 47S. 4 /^/^. 



Sect. 36.] SETTLEMENT BY THE CONVENTION. 6 1 

concession on the part of the Southern States," ^ Martin and 
WilHamson of North CaroHna, Butler of South CaroHna, and 
Mason of Virginia defended the proposition, insisting that it 
would be a dangerous concession on the part of the South to 
leave navigation acts to a mere majority vote. Sherman of 
Connecticut, Morris of Pennsylvania, and Spaight of North 
CaroHna declared that the very diversity of interest was a secu- 
rity. Finally, by a vote of 7 to 4, Maryland, Virginia, North 
Carolina, and Georgia being in the minority, the Convention 
refused to consider the motion, and the recommendation of the 
committee passed.^ 

When, on September 10, the Convention was discussing the 
amendment clause of the Constitution, the ever-alert Rutledge, 
perceiving that the results of the laboriously settled " bargain " 
might be endangered, declared that he " never could agree to 
give a power by which the articles relating to slaves might be 
altered by the states not interested in that property." ^ As a 
result, the clause finally adopted, September 15, had the pro- 
viso : " Provided, that no amendment which may be made prior 
to the year 1808 shall in any manner affect the ist and 4th 
clauses in the 9th section of the ist article."* 

36. Settlement by the Convention. Thus, the slave-trade arti- 
cle of the Constitution stood finally as follows : — 

"Article I. Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Per- 
sons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall 
not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight 
hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importa- 
tion, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person." 

This settlement of the slavery question brought out distinct dif- 
ferences of moral attitude toward the institution, and yet difter- 
ences far from hopeless. To be sure, the South apologized for 
slavery, the Middle States denounced it, and the East could only 
tolerate it from afar; and yet all three sections united in con- 
sidering it a temporary institution, the corner-stone of which 
was the slave-trade. No one of them had ever seen a system 

1 Aug. 29 : Elliot, Debates, V. 4S9. 2 /^/^.^ y. 492. 

8/^/k, V. 532. < /^/^., I. 317. 



62 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

of slavery without an active slave-trade ; and there were prob- 
ably few members of the Convention who did not believe that 
the foundations of slavery had been sapped merely by putting 
the abolition of the slave-trade in the hands of Congress twenty 
years hence. Here lay the danger; for when the North called 
slavery " temporary," she thought of twenty or thirty years, while 
the " temporary " period of the South was scarcely less than a 
century. Meantime, for at least a score of years, a policy of 
strict laissez-faire, so far as the general government was con- 
cerned, was to intervene. Instead of calling the whole moral 
energy of the people into action, so as gradually to crush this 
portentous evil, the Federal Convention lulled the nation to 
sleep by a " bargain," and left to the vacillating and unripe 
judgment of the States one of the most threatening of the 
social and political ills which they were so courageously seek- 
ing to remedy. 

37. Eeception of the Clause by the Nation. When the pro- 
posed Constitution was before the country, the slave-trade 
article came in for no small amount of condemnation and 
apology. In the pamphlets of the day it was much discussed. 
One of the points in Mason's " Letter of Objections " was that 
" the general legislature is restrained from prohibiting the fur- 
ther importation of slaves for twenty odd years, though such im- 
portations render the United States weaker, more vulnerable, 
and less capable of defence." ^ To this Iredell replied, through 
the columns of the State Gazette of North Carolina: " If all the 
States had been willing to adopt this regulation [i. e., to pro- 
hibit the slave-trade], I should as an individual most heartily 
have approved of it, because even if the importation of slaves 
in fact rendered us stronger, less vulnerable and more capable 
of defence, I should rejoice in the prohibition of it, as putting 
an end to a trade which has already continued too long for the 
honor and humanity of those concerned in it. But as it was 
well known that South Carolina and Georgia thought a fur- 
ther continuance of such importations useful to them, and 
would not perhaps otherwise have agreed to the new constitu- 

^ P. L. Ford, Pamphlets on the Constitution, p. 331. 



Sect. 37-1 RECEPTION BY THE NATION. 63 

tion, those States which had been importing till they were 
satisfied, could not with decency have insisted upon their relin- 
quishing advantages themselves had already enjoyed. Our sit- 
uation makes it necessary to bear the evil as it is. It will be 
left to the future legislatures to allow such importations or not. 
If any, in violation of their clear conviction of the injustice of 
this trade, persist in pursuing it, this is a matter between God 
and their own consciences. The interests of humanity will, how- 
ever, have gained something by the prohibition of this inhuman 
trade, though at a distance of twenty odd years." ^ 

" Centinel," representing the Quaker sentiment of Pennsyl- 
vania, attacked the clause in his third letter, published in the 
Independent Gazetteer, or The Chronicle of Freedom, November 8, 
1787: " We are told that the objects of this article are slaves, 
and that it is inserted to secure to the southern states the right 
of introducing negroes for twenty-one years to come, against the 
declared sense of the other states to put an end to an odious 
traffic in the human species, which is especially scandalous and 
inconsistent in a people, who have asserted their own liberty by 
the sword, and which dangerously enfeebles the districts wherein 
the laborers are bondsmen. The words, dark and ambiguous, 
such as no plain man of common sense would have used, are 
evidently chosen to conceal from Europe, that in this enlight- 
ened country, the practice of slavery has its advocates among 
men in the highest stations. When it is recollected that no poll 
tax can be imposed on five negroes, above what tJiree whites 
shall be charged; when it is considered, that the imposts on the 
consumption of Carolina field negroes must be trifling, and the 
excise nothing, it is plain that the proportion of contributions, 
which can be expected from the southern states under the new 
constitution, will be unequal, and yet they are to be allowed to 
enfeeble themselves by the further importation of negroes till 
the year 1808. Has not the concurrence of the five southern 
states (in the convention) to the new system, been purchased 
too dearly by the rest? " ^ 

1 P. L. Ford, Pamphlets on the Constitution, p. 367. 

2 McM aster and Stone, Pennsylvania and the Federal Convention, pp. 
599-600. Cf. also p. 773. 



64 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

Noah Webster's "Examination" (1787) addressed itself to 
such Quaker scruples : " But, say the enemies of slavery, negroes 
may be imported for twenty-one years. This exception is ad- 
dressed to the quakers, and a very pitiful exception it is. The 
truth is, Congress cannot prohibit the importation of slaves 
during that period ; but the laws against the importation into 
particular states, stand unrepealed. An immediate abolition of 
slavery would bring ruin upon the whites, and misery upon the 
blacks, in the southern states. The constitution has therefore 
wisely left each state to pursue its own measures, with respect 
to this article of legislation, during the period of twenty-one 
years." ^ 

The following year the " Examination " of Tench Coxe said: 
" The temporary reservation of any particular matter must ever 
be deemed an admission that it should be done away. This 
appears to have been well understood. In addition to the argu- 
ments drawn from liberty, justice and religion, opinions against 
this practice [i. e., of slave-trading], founded in sound policy, 
have no doubt been urged. Regard was necessarily paid to the 
peculiar situation of our southern fellow-citizens ; but they, on 
the other hand, have not been insensible of the delicate situation 
of our national character on this subject."^ 

From quite different motives Southern men defended this 
section. For instance, Dr. David Ramsay, a South Carolina 
member of the Convention, wrote in his " Address " : " It is 
farther objected, that they have stipulated for a right to pro- 
hibit the importation of negroes after 21 years. On this 
subject observe, as they are bound to protect us from domestic 
violence, they think we ought not to increase our exposure to 
that evil, by an unlimited importation of slaves. Though Con- 
gress may forbid the importation of negroes after 21 years, 
it does not follow that they will. On the other hand, it is 
probable that they will not. The more rice we make, the more 
business will be for their shipping; their interest will therefore 
coincide with ours. Besides, we have other sources of supply 
— the importation of the ensuing 20 years, added to the natural 

^ See Ford, Pamphlets^ etc., p. 54. ^ Ibid., p. 146. 



Sect. 3S.] ATTITUDE OF THE STATE CONVENTIONS. 65 

increase of those we already have, and the influx from our 
northern neighbours who are desirous of getting rid of their 
slaves, will afford a sufficient number for cultivating all the lands 
in this state." ^ ' ^ 

Finally, The Federalist, No. 41, written by James Madison, 
commented as follows : " It were doubtless to be wished, that 
the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves had not been 
postponed until the year 1808, or rather, that it had been suf- 
fered to have immediate operation. But it is not difficult to 
account, either for this restriction on the General Government, 
or for the manner in which the whole clause is expressed. It 
ought to be considered as a great point gained in favor of 
humanity, that a period of twenty years may terminate forever, 
within these States, a traffic which has so long and so loudly 
upbraided the barbarism of modern policy; that within that 
period, it will receive a considerable discouragement from the 
Federal Government, and may be totally abolished, by a con- 
currence of the few States which continue the unnatural traffic, 
in the prohibitory example which has been given by so great a 
majority of the Union. Happy would it be for the unfortunate 
Africans, if an equal prospect lay before them of being redeemed 
from the oppressions of their European brethren ! 
- " Attempts have been made to pervert this clause into an 
objection against the Constitution, by representing it on one 
side as a criminal toleration of an illicit practice, and on another, 
as calcidated to prevent voluntary and beneficial emigrations 
from Europe to America. I mention these misconstructions, not 
with a view to give them an answer, for they deserve none ; 
but as specimens of the manner and spirit, in which some 
ha\'e thought fit to conduct their opposition to the proposed 
Government."^ 

38. Attitude of the State Conventions. The records of the 
proceedings in the various State conventions are exceedingly 
meagre. In nearly all of the few States where records exist 

1 " Address to the Freemen of South Carolina on the Subject of the Fed- 
eral Constitution " : Ibid., p. 37S. 

2 Published in the Neiu York Packet, Jan. 22, 17S8; reprinted in Daw- 
son's Fanieralistt I. 290- r. 

5 



^^ THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

there is found some opposition to the slave-trade clause. The 
opposition was seldom very pronounced or bitter; it rather 
took the form of regret, on the one hand that the Convention 
went so far, and on the other hand that it did not go farther. 
Probably, however, the Constitution was never in danger of 
rejection on account of this clause. 

Extracts from a few of the speeches, pro and con, in various 
States will best illustrate the character of the arguments. In 
reply to some objections expressed in the Pennsylvania conven- 
tion, Wilson said, December 3, 1787: "I consider this as lay- 
ing the foundation for banishing slavery out of this country ; 
and though the period is more distant than I could wish, 
yet it will produce the same kind, gradual change, which 
was pursued in Pennsylvania." ^ Robert Barnwell declared 
in the South Carolina convention, January 17, 1788, that 
this clause " particularly pleased " him. " Congress," he said, 
" has guarantied this right for that space of time, and at its 
expiration may continue it as long as they please. This ques- 
tion then arises — What will their interest lead them to do? 
The Eastern States, as the honorable gentleman says, will be- 
come the carriers of America. It will, therefore, certainly be 
their interest to encourage exportation to as great an extent 
as possible; and if the quantum of our products will be dimin- 
ished by the prohibition of negroes, I appeal to the belief of 
every man, whether he thinks those very carriers will themselves 
dam up the sources from whence their profit is derived. To 
think so is so contradictory to the general conduct of mankind, 
that I am of opinion, that, without we ourselves put a stop to 
them, the traffic for negroes will continue forever."^ 

In Massachusetts, January 30, 1788, General Heath said: 
" The gentlemen who have spoken have carried the matter rather 
too far on both sides. I apprehend that it is not in our power 
to do anything for or against those who are in slavery in the 
southern States. . . . Two questions naturally arise, if we rat- 
ify the Constitution: Shall we do anything by our act to hold 
the blacks in slavery? or shall we become partakers of other 

1 Elliot, Debates, II. 452. 2 Ibid., IV. 296-7. 



Sect. 3S.] A TTITUDE OF THE STA TE CONVENTIONS. 67 

men's sins? I think neither of them. Each State is sovereign 
and independent to a certain degree, and they have a right, and 
will regulate their own internal affairs, as to themselves appears 
proper."^ Iredell said, in the North Carolina convention, July 
26, 1788: " When the entire abolition of slavery takes place, it 
will be an event whicii must be pleasing to every generous 
mind, and every friend of human nature. . . . But as it is, this 
government is nobly distinguished above others by that very 
provision." ^ 

Of the arguments against the clause, two made in the Massa- 
chusetts convention are typical. The Rev. Mr. Neal said, Jan- 
uary 25, 1788, that " unless his objection [to this clause] was 
removed, he could not put his hand to the Constitution." ^ 
General Thompson exclaimed, " Shall it be said, that after we 
have established our own independence and freedom, we make 
slaves of others?"* Mason, in the Virginia convention, June 
15, 1788, said: "As much as I value a union of all the states, 
I would not admit the Southern States into the Union unless 
they agree to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade. . . . 
Yet they have not secured us the property of the slaves we have 
already. So that ' they have done what they ought not to have 
done, and have left undone what they ought to have done.'"^ 
Joshua Atherton, who led the opposition in the New Hamp- 
shire convention, said : "The idea that strikes those who are 
opposed to this clause so disagreeably and so forcibly is, — 
hereby it is conceived (if we ratify the Constitution) that we 
become consentcrs to and partakers in the sin and guilt of this 
abominable traffic, at least for a certain period, without any 
positive stipulation that it shall even then be brought to an 
end."6 

In the South Carolina convention Lowndes, January 16, 1788, 
attacked the slave-trade clause. "Negroes," said he, "were 

1 Published in Debates of the Massachusetts Convention, 1788, p. 217 ff. 

2 Elliot, Debates, IV. loo-i. 

8 Published in Debates of the Massachusetts Convention, 1788, p. 208. 
4 Ibid. & Elliot, Debates, III. 452-3. 

6 Walker, Federal Convention of New Hampshire, App. 113; Elliot, 
Debates, II. 203. 



68 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. [Chap. VI. 

our wealth, our only natural resource; yet behold how our 
kind friends in the north were determined soon to tie up our 
hands, and drain us of what we had ! The Eastern States drew 
their means of subsistence, in a great measure, from their ship- 
ping ; and, on that head, they had been particularly careful not 
to allow of any burdens. . . . Why, then, call this a reciprocal 
bargain, which took all from one party, to bestow it on the 
other ! " i 

In spite of this discussion in the different States, only one 
State, Rhode Island, went so far as to propose an amendment 
directing Congress to " promote and establish such laws and 
regulations as may effectually prevent the importation of slaves 
of every description, into the United States." ^ 

39. Acceptance of the Policy. As in the Federal Convention, 
so in the State conventions, it is noticeable that the com- 
promise was accepted by the various States from widely differ- 
ent motives.^ Nevertheless, these motives were not fixed and 
unchangeable, and there was still discernible a certain underly- 
ing agreement in the dislike of slavery. One cannot help 
thinking that if the devastation of the late war had not left an 
extraordinary demand for slaves in the South, — if, for instance, 

1 Elliot, Debates, IV. 273. 

^ Updike's Mimiies, in Staples, Rhode Island in the Continental Con- 
gress, pp. 657-8, 674-9. Adopted by a majority of one in a convention of 
seventy. 

'In five States I have found no mention of the subject (Delaware, New 
Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, and Maryland). In the Pennsylvania conven- 
tion there was considerable debate, partially preserved in Elliot's and Lloyd's 
Debates. In the Massachusetts convention the debate on this clause occu- 
pied a part of two or three days, reported in published debates. In South 
Carolina there were several long speeches, reported in Elliot's Debates. 
Only three speeches made in the New Hampshire convention seem to be extant, 
and two of these are on the slave-trade : cf. Walker and Elliot. The Vir- 
ginia convention discussed the clause to considerable extent : see Elliot. The 
clause does not seem to have been a cause of North Carolina's delay in rati, 
fication, although it occasioned some discussion : see Elliot. In Rhode 
Island " much debate ensued," and in this State alone was an amendment 
proposed : see Staples, Rhode Island in the Continental Congress. In New 
York the Committee of the Whole " proceeded through sections 8, 9 . . . 
with Httle or no debate " : Elliot, Debates, II. 406. 



Sect. 39.] ACCEPTANCE OF THE POLICY, 69 

there had been in 1787 the same plethora in the slave-market 
as in 1774, — the future history of the country would have been 
far different. As it was, the twenty-one }'ears of laissez-faire 
were confirmed by the States, and the nation entered upon the 
constitutional period with the slave-trade legal in three States,^ 
and with a feeling of quiescence toward it in the rest of the 
Union. 

^ South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina. North Carolina had, 
however, a prohibitive duty. 



CHAPTER VII. 

TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE AND ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORT, 

1787-1806. 

40. Influence of the Haytian Revolution, 

41. Legislation of the Southern States. 

42. Legislation of the Border States. 

43. Legislation of the Eastern States. 

44. First Debate in Congress, 1789. 

45. Second Debate in Congress, 1790. 

46. The Declaration of Powers, 1790. 

47. The Act of 1794. 

48. The Act of 1800. 

49. The Act of 1803. 

50. State of the Slave-Trade from 1789 to 1803. 

51. The South Carolina Repeal of 1S03. 

52. The Louisiana Slave-Trade, 1803-1805. 

53. Last Attempts at Taxation, 1805-1806. 

54. Key-Note of the Period. 

40. Influence of the Haytian Revolution. The role which the 
great Negro Toussaint, called L'Ouverture, played in the his- 
tory of the United States has seldom been fully appreciated. 
Representing the age of revolution in America, he rose to 
leadership through a bloody terror, which contrived a Negro 
" problem " for the Western Hemisphere, intensified and de- 
fined the anti-slavery movement, became one of the causes, 
and probably the prime one, which led Napoleon to sell 
Louisiana for a song, and finally, through the interworking 
of all these effects, rendered more certain the final prohibition 
of the slave-trade by the United States in 1807. 

From the time of the reorganization of the Pennsylvania 
Abolition Society, in 1787, anti-slavery sentiment became active. 
New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, and 



Sect. 41.] LEGISLA TION OF THE SOUTHERN STA TES. 7 1 

Virginia had strong organizations, and a national convention 
was held in 1794. The terrible upheaval in the West Indies, 
beginning in 1791, furnished this rising movement with an irre- 
sistible argument. A wave of horror and fear swept over the 
South, which even the powerful slave-traders of Georgia did 
not dare withstand ; the Middle States saw their worst dreams 
realized, and the mercenary trade interests of the East lost 
control of the New England conscience, 

41. Legislation of the Southern States. In a few years the 
growing sentiment had crystallized into legislation. The South- 
ern States took immediate measures to close their ports, first 
against West India Negroes, finally against all slaves. Georgia, 
who had had legal slavery only from 1755, and had since passed 
no restrictive legislation, felt compelled in 1793^ to stop the 
entry of free Negroes, and in 1798 2 to prohibit, under heavy 
penalties, the importation of all slaves. This provision was 
placed in the Constitution of the State, and, although miser- 
ably enforced, was never repealed. 

South Carolina was the first Southern State in which the 
exigencies of a great staple crop rendered the rapid consump- 
tion of slaves more profitable than their proper maintenance. 
Alternating, therefore, between a plethora and a dearth of Ne- 
groes, she prohibited the slave-trade only for short periods. In 
,^1788 '^ she had forbidden the trade for five years, and in 1792,* 
being peculiarly exposed to the West Indian insurrection, she 
quickly found it " inexpedient " to allow Negroes " from Africa, 
the W^est India Islands, or other place beyond sea " to enter 
for two years. This act continued to be extended, although 

1 Prince, Digest of the Laws of Georgia, p. 786; Marbury and Crawford, 
Digest of the Laws of Georgia, pp. 440, 442. The exact text of this act 
appears not to be extant. Section I. is stated to have been "re-enacted by 
the constitution." Possibly this act prohibited slaves also, although this is 
not certain. Georgia passed several regulative acts between 1755 ^^d 1793. 
Cf. Renne, Colonial Acts of Georgia, ^i^. 73-4, 164, note. 

'■^ Marbury and Crawford, Digest, p. 30, § 11. The clause was penned 
by Peter J. Carnes of Jefferson. Cf. W. B. Stevens, History of Georgia 
(1S47), II. 501. 

8 Grimke, Public Laws, p. 466. 

■* Cooper and McCord, Statutes, VII. 431. 



72 TOUSSAINT VOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

with lessening penalties, until 1803.^ The home demand in 
view of the probable stoppage of the trade in 1808, the specula- 
tive chances of the new Louisiana Territory trade, and the large 
already existing illicit traffic combined in that year to cause 
the passage of an act, December 17, reopening the African 
slave-trade, although still carefully excluding " West India " 
Negroes.^ This action profoundly stirred the Union, aroused 
anti-slavery sentiment, led to a concerted movement for a con- 
stitutional amendment, and, failing in this, to an irresistible 
demand for a national prohibitory act at the earliest consti- 
tutional moment. 

North Carolina had repealed her prohibitory duty act in 
1790,^ but in 1794 she passed an "Act to prevent further 
importation and bringing of slaves," etc.* Even the body- 
servants of West India immigrants and, naturally, all free 
Negroes, Vv^ere eventually prohibited.^ 

42. Legislation of the Border States. The Border States, Vir- 
ginia and Maryland, strengthened their non-importation laws, 
Virginia freeing illegally imported Negroes,^ and Maryland pro- 
hibiting even the interstate trade." The Middle States took 
action chiefly in the final abolition of slavery within their bor- 
ders, and the prevention of the fitting out of slaving vessels in 
their ports. Delaware declared, in her Act of 1789, that "it 
is inconsistent with that spirit of general liberty which pervades 
the constitution of this state, that vessels should be fitted out, 
or equipped, in any of the ports thereof, for the purpose of 
receiving and transporting the natives of Africa to places where 
they are held in slavery," ^ and forbade such a practice under 
penalty of ;!^500 for each person so engaged. The Pennsylvania 

1 Cooper and McCord, Statutes, VII. 433-6, 444, 447. 

2 Ibid., VII. 449. 

3 Martin, iTedeWs Acts of Assembly, I. 492. 

4 Ibid., II. 53. 

6 Cf. Ibid., II. 94; Laii's of North Carolina (revision of 18 19), I. 786. 

^ Virginia codified her wliole slave legislation in 1792 (^Va. Statutes at 
Large, New Sen, I. 122), and amended her laws in 1798 and 1806 {Ibid., 
III. 251). 

' Dorscy, La^vs of Maryland, 1796, I. 334. 

8 Laivs of Delaware, 1797 (Newcastle ed.), p. 942, ch. 194 b. 



Sect. 43-] LEGISLATION OF THE EASTERN STATES. 73 

Act of 1788^ had similar provisions, with a penalty of iJ"iOOO; 
and New Jersey followed with an act in 1798.- 

43. Legislation of the Eastern States. In the Eastern States, 
where slavery as an institution was already nearly defunct, action 
was aimed toward stopping the notorious participation of citi- 
zens in the slave-trade outside the State. The prime movers 
were the Rhode Island Quakers. Having early secured a law 
against the traffic in their own State, they turned their attention 
to others. Through their remonstrances Connecticut, in 1788,'^ 
prohibited participation in the trade by a fine of ;j^500 on the 
vessel, ;;^50 on each slave, and loss of insurance; this act 
was strengthened in 1792,^ the year after the Haytian revolt. 
Massachusetts, after many fruitless attempts, finally took advan- 
tage of an unusually bold case of kidnapping, and passed a 
similar act in 1788.'^ "This," says Belknap, "was the utmost 
which could be done by our legislatures; we still have to regret 
the impossibility of making a law here, which shall restrain our 
citizens from carrying on this trade in foreign bottoms, and from 
committing the crimes which this act prohibits, in foreign coun- 
tries, as it is said some of them have done since the enacting 
of these laws." ^ 

Thus it is seen how, spurred by the tragedy in the West 
Indies, the United States succeeded by State action in pro- 
hibiting the slave-trade from 1798 to 1803, in furthering the 
cause of abolition, and in preventing the fitting out of slave- 
trade expeditions in United States ports. The country had 
good cause to congratulate itself. The national government 
hastened to supplement State action as far as possible, and the 

1 Dallas, Latus, II. 586. 

2 Paterson, Digest of the Laws of New Jersey (1800), pp. 307-13. In 
1804 New Jersey passed an act gradually to abolish slavery. The legislation 
of New York at this period was confined to regulating the exportation of 
slave criminals (1790), and to passing an act gradually abolishing slavery 
(1799). In 1 801 she codified all her acts. 

8 Acts and Laws of Connecticut (ed. 1784), pp. 368, 369, 38S. 
< Ibid., p. 412. 

5 Pe)-pefual Laws of Massachusetts, 1780-89, pp. 235-6. 

6 (Ju cries Respecting Slavery, etc., in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., ist Ser., 
IV. 205, 



74 TOUSSAINT VOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

prophecies of the more sanguine Revolutionary fathers seemed 
about to be reahzed, when the ill-considered act of South Caro- 
lina showed the weakness of the constitutional compromise. 

44. First Debate in Congress, 1789. The attention of the 
national government was early directed to slavery and the trade 
by the rise, in the first Congress, of the question of taxing 
slaves imported. During the debate on the duty bill introduced 
by Clymer's committee, Parker of Virginia moved, May 13, 
1789, to lay a tax of ten dollars per capita on slaves imported. 
He plainly stated that the tax was designed to check the trade, 
and that he was '* sorry that the Constitution prevented Con- 
gress from prohibiting the importation altogether." The pro- 
posal was evidently unwelcome, and caused an extended debate.^ 
Smith of South Carolina wanted to postpone a matter so " big 
with the most serious consequences to the State he represented." 
Roger Sherman of Connecticut " could not reconcile himself 
to the insertion of human beings as an article of duty, among 
goods, wares, and merchandise." Jackson of Georgia argued 
against any restriction, and thought such States as Virginia 
" ought to let their neighbors get supplied, before they imposed 
such a burden upon the importation." Tucker of South Caro- 
lina declared it " unfair to bring in such an important subject at 
a time when debate was almost precluded," and denied the 
right of Congress to " consider whether the importation of 
slaves is proper or not." 

Mr. Parker was evidently somewhat abashed by this on- 
slaught of friend and foe, but he " had ventured to introduce the 
subject after full deliberation, and did not like to withdraw it." 
He desired Congress, " if possible," to " wipe ofif the stigma 
under which America labored." This brought Jackson of 
Georgia again to his feet. He believed, in spite of the " fashion 
of the day," that the Negroes were better off as slaves than as 
freedmen, and that, as the tax was partial, " it would be the most 
odious tax Congress could impose." Such sentiments were a 
distinct advance in pro-slavery doctrine, and called for a protest 
from Madison of Virginia. He thought the discussion proper, 

1 Annals of Cong., i Cong, i sess. pp. 336-41. 



Sect. 45] SECOND DEBATE IN CONGRESS. 75 

denied the partiality of the tax, and declared that, according to 
the spirit of the Constitution and his own desire, it was to be 
hoped " that, by expressing a national disapprobation of this 
trade, we may destroy it, and save ourselves from reproaches, 
and our posterity the imbecility ever attendant on a coun- 
try filled with slaves." Finally, to Burke of South Carolina, 
who thought " the gentlemen were contending for nothing," 
Madison sharply rejoined, " If we contend for nothing, the gen- 
tlemen who are opposed to us do not contend for a great deal." 

It now became clear that Congress had been whirled into a 
discussion of too delicate and lengthy a nature to allow its fur- 
ther prolongation. Compromising councils prevailed; and it 
was agreed that the present proposition should be withdrawn 
and a separate bill brought in. This bill was, however, at the 
next session dexterously postponed " until the next session of 
Congress." ^ 

45. Second Debate in Congress, 1790. It is doubtful if Con- 
gress of its own initiative would soon have resurrected the mat- 
ter, had not a new anti-slavery weapon appeared in the shape of 
urgent petitions from abolition societies. The first petition, 
presented February 11, 1790,2 was from the same interstate 
Yearly Meeting of Friends which had formerly petitioned the 
Confederation Congress.^ They urged Congress to inquire 
"whether, notwithstanding such seeming impediments, it be 
not in reality within your power to exercise justice and mercy, 
which, if adhered to, we cannot doubt, must produce the aboli- 
tion of the slave trade," etc. Another Quaker petition from 
New York was also presented,* and both were about to be re- 
ferred, when Smith of South Carolina objected, and precipi- 
tated a sharp debate.^ ' This debate had a distinctly different 
tone from that of the preceding one, and represents another 
step in pro-slavery doctrine. The key-note of these utterances 
was struck by Stone of Maryland, who " feared that if Con- 

^ Annals of Cong., i Cong, i sess. p. 903. 

2 Ibid., I Cong. 2 sess. pp. 11S2-3. 

8 Journals of Cong., 17S2-3, pp. 418-9. Cf. above, p. 51. 

* Annals of Cong., i Cong. 2 sess. p. 11 84. 

5 Ibid., pp. 1 182-91. 



-jG TOUSSAINT UOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

gress took any measures indicative of an intention to interfere 
with the kind of property alluded to, it would sink it in value 
very considerably, and might be injurious to a great number of 
the citizens, particularly in the Southern States, He thought 
the subject was of general concern, and that the petitioners 
had no more right to interfere with it than any other members 
of the community. It was an unfortunate circumstance, that it 
was the disposition of religious sects to imagine they under- 
stood the rights of human nature better than all the world 
besides." 

In vain did men like Madison disclaim all thought of uncon- 
stitutional " interference," and express only a desire to see " If 
anything is within the Federal authority to restrain such viola- 
tion of the rights of nations and of mankind, as is supposed to 
be practised in some parts of the United States." A storm 
of disapproval from Southern members met such sentiments. 
" The rights of the Southern States ought not to be threatened," 
said Burke of South Carolina. " Any extraordinary attention 
of Congress to this petition," averred Jackson of Georgia, would 
put slave property " in jeopardy," and " evince to the people a 
disposition towards a total emancipation." Smith and Tucker 
of South Carolina declared that the request asked for " uncon- 
stitutional " measures. Gerry of Massachusetts, Hartley of 
Pennsylvania, and Lawrence of New York rather mildly de- 
fended the petitioners; but after considerable further debate the 
matter was laid on the table. 

The very next day, however, the laid ghost walked again in 
the shape of another petition from the " Pennsylvania Society 
for promoting the Abolition of Slavery," signed by its venera- 
ble president, Benjamin Franklin. This petition asked Con- 
gress to " step to the very verge of the power vested in you 
for discouraging every species of traffic in the persons of our 
fellow-men." ^ Hartley of Pennsylvania called up the memorial 
of the preceding day, and it was read a second time and a 
motion for commitment made. Plain words now came from 
Tucker of South Carolina. " The petition," he said, " contained 

1 Atinals of Cong., i Cong. 2 sess. pp. 1 197-1205. 



Sect. 45-] SECOND DEBATE IN CONGRESS. 77 

an unconstitutional request." The commitment would alarm the 
South. These petitions were " mischievous " attempts to imbue 
the slaves with false hopes. The South would not submit to 
a general emancipation without " civil war." The commitment 
would " blow the trumpet of sedition in the Southern States," 
echoed his colleague, Burke. The Pennsylvania men spoke 
just as boldly. Scott declared the petition constitutional, and 
was sorry that the Constitution did not interdict this " most 
abominable " trafific. " Perhaps, in our Legislative capacity," he 
said, " we can go no further than to impose a duty of ten dol- 
lars, but I do not know how far I might go if I was one of the 
Judges of the United States, and those people were to come 
before me and claim their emancipation; but I am sure I would 
go as far as I could." Jackson of Georgia rejoined in true South- 
ern spirit, boldly defending slavery in the light of religion and 
histor}', and asking if it was " good policy to bring forward a 
business at this moment likely to light up the flame of civil 
discord ; for the people of the Southern States will resist one 
tyranny as soon as another. The other parts of the Continent 
may bear them down by force of arms, but they will never 
suffer themselves to be divested of their property without a 
struggle. The gentleman says, if he was a Federal Judge, he 
does not know to what length he would go in emancipating 
these people ; but I believe his judgment would be of short 
duration in Georgia, perhaps even the existence of such a 
Judge might be in danger." Baldwin, his New-England-born 
colleague, urged moderation by reciting the difficulty with which 
the constitutional compromise was reached, and declaring, " the 
moment we go to jostle on that ground, I fear we shall feel it 
tremble under our feet." Lawrence of New York wanted to 
commit the memorials, in order to see how far Congress might 
constitutionally interfere. Smith of South Carolina, in a long 
speech, said that his constituents entered the Union " from po- 
litical, not from moral motives," and that " we look upon this 
measure as an attack upon the palladium of the property of our 
country." Page of Virginia, although a slave owner, urged 
commitment, and Madison again maintained the appropriate- 
ness of the request, and suggested that " regulations might be 



yB, TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

made in relation to the introduction of them [i. e., slaves] into 
the new States to be formed out of the Western Territory." 
Even conservative Gerry of Massachusetts declared, with re- 
gard to the whole trade, that the fact that " we have a right to 

o 

regulate this business, is as clear as that we have any rights 
whatever." 

Finally, by a vote of 43 to 11, the memorials were com- 
mitted, the South Carolina and Georgia delegations, Bland and 
Coles of Virginia, Stone of Maryland, and Sylvester of New 
York voting in the negative.^ A committee, consisting of 
Foster of New Hampshire, Huntington of Connecticut, Gerry 
of Massachusetts, Lawrence of New York, Sinnickson of New 
Jersey, Hartley of Pennsylvania, and Parker of Virginia, was 
charged with the matter, and reported Friday, March 5. The 
absence of Southern members on this committee compelled it 
to make this report a sort of official manifesto on the aims of 
Northern anti-slavery politics. As such, it was sure to meet 
with vehement opposition in the House, even though conserva- 
tively worded. Such proved to be the fact when the committee 
reported. The onslaught to "negative the whole report" was 
prolonged and bitter, the debate pro and con lasting several 
days.^ 

46. The Declaration of Powers, 1780. The result is best seen 
by comparing the original report with the report of the Com- 
mittee of the Whole, adopted by a vote of 29 to 25 Monday, 
March 23, 1790: ^ — 
Report of the Select Committee. 

That, from the nature of the matters 
contained in these memorials, they were 
induced to examine the powers vested 
in Congress, under the present Constitu- 
tion, relating to the Abolition of Slavery, 
and are clearly of opinion. 

First. That the General Government 
is expressly restrained from prohibiting 



Report of the Committee of the 
Whole. 



First. That the migration or importa- 
tion of such persons as any of the States 



1 Hojise Journal (repr. 1826), i Cong. 2 sess. I. 157-8- 

2 Annals of Cong., i Cong. 2 sess. pp. 1413-7- 

3 For the reports and debates, cf. Annals of Cong., i Cong. 2 sess. 
pp. 1 41 3-7, 1450-74; Honse Journal (jt])x. 1826), i Cong. 2 sess. I. 168-81. 



Sect. 4<J-] THE DECLARATION OF POWERS. 



the importation of such persons ' as any 
of the States now existing shall think 
proper to admit, until the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred and eight.' 

Sccotidly. That Congress, by a fair 
construction of the Constitution, are 
equally restrained from interfering in the 
emancipation of slaves, who already are, 
or who may, within the period mentioned, 
be imported into, or born within, any of 
the said States. 

Thirdly. That Congress have no au- 
thority to interfere in the internal regu- 
lations of particular States, relative to 
the instructions of slaves in the principles 
of morality and religion ; to their com- 
fortable clothing, accommodations, and 
subsistence; to the regulation of their 
marriages, and the prevention of the vio- 
lation of the rights thereof, or to the 
separation of children from their parents ; 
to a comfortable provision in cases of 
sickness, age, or infirmity; or to the seiz- 
ure, transportation, or sale of free ne- 
groes ; but have the fullest confidence in 
the wisdom and humanity of the Legis- 
latures of the several States, that they 
will revise their laws from time to time, 
when necessary, and promote the objects 
mentioned in the memorials, and every 
other measure that may tend to the hap- 
piness of slaves. 

Fourthly. That, nevertheless. Con- 
gress have authority, if they shall think 
it necessary, to lay at any time a tax or 
duty, not exceeding ten dollars for each 
person of any description, the importa- 
tion of whom shall be by any of the 
States admitted as aforesaid. 

Fifthly. That Congress have authority 
to interdict,! or (so far as it is or may 
be carried on by citizens of the United 
States, for supplying foreigners) to regu- 
late ^ the African trade, and to make 
provision for the humane treatment of 
slaves, in all cases while on their pas- 

* A clerical error in the original 
interchanEfcd. 



now existing shall think proper to admit, 
cannot be prohibited by Congress, prior 
to the year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight. 

Secondly. That Congress have no au- 
thority to interfere in the emancipation 
of slaves, or in the treatment of them 
within any of the States; it remaining 
with the several States alone to provide 
any regulation therein, which humanity 
and true policy may require. 



Thirdly. That Congress have author- 
ity to restrain the citizens of the United 
States from carrying on the African 
trade, for the purpose of supplying for- 
eigners with slaves, and of providing, by 
proper regulations, for the humane treat- 
ment, during their passage, of slaves im- 

" interdict " and " regulate " should be 



So 



TOUS SAINT LOUVERTURE. 



[Chap. VII. 



ported by the said citizens into the States 
admitting such importation. 

Fourthly. That Congress have author- 
ity to prohibit foreigners from fitting out 
vessels in any port of the United States 
for transporting persons from Africa to 
any foreign port. 



sage to the United States, or to foreign 
ports, so far as respects the citizens of 
the United States. 

Sixthly. That Congress have also au- 
thority to prohibit foreigners from fitting 
out vessels in any port of the United 
States, for transporting persons from 
Africa to any foreign port. 

Seventhly. That the memorialists be in- 
formed, that in all cases to which the 
authority of Congress extends, they will 
exercise it for the humane objects of the 
memorialists, so far as they can be pro- 
moted on the principles of justice, hu- 
manity, and good policy. 

47. The Act of 1794. This declaration of the powers of the 
central government over the slave-trade bore early fruit in the 
second Congress, in the shape of a shower of petitions from 
abolition societies in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.^ In some 
of these slavery was denounced as " an outrageous violation of 
one of the most essential rights of human nature," ^ and the 
slave-trade as a traffic "degrading to the rights of man" and 
"repugnant to reason."^ Others declared the trade "injurious 
to the true commercial interest of a nation,"^ and asked Con- 
gress that, having taken up the matter, they do all in their 
power to limit the trade. Congress was, however, determined 
to avoid as long as possible so unpleasant a matter, and, save 
an angry attempt to censure a Quaker petitioner,^ nothing was 
heard of the slave-trade until the third Congress. 

Meantime, news came from the seas southeast of Carolina 
and Georgia which influenced Congress more powerfully than 
humanitarian arguments had done. The wild revolt of despised 
slaves, the rise of a noble black leader, and the birth of a new 

1 See Memorials presented to Congress, etc. (1792), published by the 
Pennsylvania Abolition Society. 

2 From the Virginia petition. 

3 From the petition of Baltimore and other Maryland societies. 

4 From the Providence Abolition Society's petition. 

5 House Journal (repr. 1826), 2 Cong. 2 sess. I. 627-9; Annals of 
Cong., 2 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 7-''^-3i- 



Sect. 48.] THE ACT OF ISOO. 8l 

nation of Negro freemen frightened the pro-slavery advocates 
and armed the anti-slavery agitation. As a result, a Quaker 
petition for a law against the transport traffic in slaves was 
received without a murmur in 1794,^ and on March 22 the 
first national act against the slave-trade became a law.'-^ It 
was designed " to prohibit the carrying on the Slave Trade 
from the United States to any foreign place or country," 
or the fitting out of slavers in the United States for that 
country. The penalties for violation were forfeiture of the 
ship, a fine of $1000 for each person engaged, and of $200 for 
each slave transported. If the Quakers thought this a triumph 
of anti-slavery sentiment, they were quickly undeceived. Con- 
gress might willingly restrain the country from feeding West 
Indian turbulence, and yet be furious at a petition like that of 
1797,3 calling attention to "the oppressed state of our brethren 
of the African race " in this country, and to the interstate slave- 
trade. " Considering the present extraordinary state of the West 
India Islands and of Europe," young John Rutledge insisted 
"that 'sufficient for the day is the evil thereof,' and that they 
ought to shut their door against any thing which had a tendency 
to produce the like confusion in this country." After excited 
debate and some investigation by a special committee, the peti- 
tion was ordered, in both Senate and House, to be withdrawn. 

48. The Act of 1800. In the next Congress, the sixth, another 
petition threw the House into paroxysms of slavery debate. 
Wain of Pennsylvania presented the petition of certain free 
colored men of Pennsylvania praying for a revision of the slave- 
trade laws and of the fugitive-slave law, and for prospective 
emancipation.* Wain moved the reference of this memorial to 
a committee already appointed on the revision of the loosely 
drawn and poorly enforced Act of 1794.^ Rutledge of South 

1 Annals of Cong., 3 Cong, i sess. pp. 64, 70, 72; Hoiise Journal (repr. 
1S26), 3 Cong. I sess. II. 'jd, 84-5, 96-100; Senate Joiirnal (repr. 1S20), 3 
Cong. I sess. II. 51. 

2 Statutes at Large, I. 347-9. 

3 Annals of Cong., 5 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 656-70, 945-1033. 
* Annals of Cong., 6 Cong, i sess. p. 229. 

5 Dec. 12, 1799: Ho7ise fournal (repr. 1826), 6 Cong, i sess. III. 535. 
For the debate, see Annals of Cong., 6 Cong, i sess. pp. 230-45. 

6 



82 TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

Carolina immediately arose. He opposed the motion, saying, 
that these petitions were continually coming in and stirring 
up discord; that it was a good thing the Negroes were in 
slavery; and that already "too much of this new-fangled 
French philosophy of liberty and equality" had found its 
way among them. Others defended the right of petition, and 
declared that none wished Congress to exceed its powers. 
Brown of Rhode Island, a new figure in Congress, a man 
of distinguished services and from a well-known family, boldly 
set forth the commercial philosophy of his State. " We want 
money," said he, " we want a navy ; we ought therefore to use 
the means to obtain it. We ought to go farther than has yet 
been proposed, and repeal the bills in question altogether, for 
why should we see Great Britain getting all the slave trade to 
themselves; why may not our country be enriched by that 
lucrative traffic? There would not be a slave the more sold, but 
we should derive the benefits by importing from Africa as well 
as that nation." Wain, in reply, contended that they should 
look into " the slave trade, much of which was still carrying on 
from Rhode Island, Boston and Pennsylvania." Hill of North 
Carolina called the House back from this general discussion to 
the petition in qu-sstion, and, while willing to remedy any exist- 
ing defect in the Act of 1794, hoped the petition would not be 
received. Dana of Connecticut declared that the paper " con- 
tained nothing but a farrago of the French metaphysics of 
liberty and equality; " and that "it was likely to produce some 
of the dreadful scenes of St. Domingo." The next day Rut- 
ledge again warned the House against even discussing the mat- 
ter, as " very serious, nay, dreadful effects, must be the inevitable 
consequence." He held up the most lurid pictures of the 
fatuity of the French Convention in listening to the overtures 
of the "three emissaries from St. Domingo," and thus yielding 
" one of the finest islands in the world " to " scenes which had 
never been practised since the destruction of Carthage." " But, 
sir," he continued, " we have lived to see these dreadful scenes. 
These horrid effects have succeeded what was conceived once 
to be trifling. Most important consequences may be the result, 
although gentlemen little apprehend it. But we know the situa- 



Sect. 4S.] THE ACT OF 1800. 83 

tion of things there, although they do not, and knowing we 
deprecate it. There have been emissaries amongst us in the 
Southern States; they have begun their war upon us; an actual 
organization has commenced ; we have had them meeting in 
their ckib rooms, and debating on that subject. . . . Sir, I do 
believe that persons have been sent from France to feel the 
pulse of this country, to know whether these [i. e., the Negroes] 
are the proper engines to make use of: these people have been 
talked to ; they have been tampered with, and this is going on." 

Finally, after censuring certain parts of this Negro petition, 
Congress committed the part on the slave-trade to the com- 
mittee already appointed. Meantime, the Senate sent down a 
bill to amend the Act of 1794, and the House took this bill 
under consideration.^ Prolonged debate ensued. Brown ot 
Rhode Island again made a most elaborate plea for throwing 
open the foreign slave-trade. Negroes, he said, bettered their 
condition by being enslaved, and thus it was morally wrong 
and commercially indefensible to impose " a heavy fine and im- 
prisonment ... for carrying on a trade so advantageous ; " or, if 
the trade must be stopped, then equalize the matter and abolish 
slavery too. Nichols of Virginia thought that surely the gen- 
tlemen would not advise the importation of more Negroes ; for 
while it " was a fact, to be sure," that they would thus improve 
their condition, "would it be policy so to do?" Bayard of 
Delaware said that " a more dishonorable item of revenue " than 
that derived from the slave-trade "could not be established." 
Rutledge opposed the new bill as defective and impracticable: 
the former act, he said, was enough ; the States had stopped 
the trade, and in addition the United States had sought to pla- 
cate philanthropists by stopping the use of our ships in the 
trade. " This was going very far indeed." New England first 
began the trade, and why not let them enjoy its profits now as 
well as the English? The trade could not be stopped. 

The bill was eventually recommitted and reported again.^ 

1 Senate Journal (repr. 1821), 6 Cong, i sess. III. 72, 77,88,92; see 
Ibid., Index, Bill No. 62; House Journal (repr. 1S26), 6 Cong, i sess. III., 
Index, House Bill No. 247. For the debate, see Annals of Cong., 6 Cong. 
I sess. pp. 686-700. 

2 Annals of Cong.., 6 Cong, i sess. p. 697. 



84 TOUSSAINT VOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

" On the question for its passing, a long and warm debate en- 
sued," and several attempts to postpone it were made ; it finally 
passed, however, only Brown of Rhode Island, Dent of Mary- 
land, Rutledge and Huger of South Carolina, and Dickson of 
North Carolina voting against it, and 6^ voting for it.^ This 
Act of May lo, 1800,^ greatly strengthened the Act of 1794. 
The earlier act had prohibited citizens from equipping slavers 
for the foreign trade ; but this went so far as to forbid them 
having any interest, direct or indirect, in such voyages, or serv- 
ing on board slave-ships in any capacity. Imprisonment for 
two years was added to the former fine of ^2000, and United 
States commissioned ships were directed to capture such slavers 
as prizes. The slaves though forfeited by the owner, were not 
to go to the captor ; and the act omitted to say what disposition 
should be made of them. 

49. The Act of 1803. The Haytian revolt, having been among 
the main causes of two laws, soon was the direct instigation to 
a third. The frightened feeling in the South, when freed- 
men from the West Indies began to arrive in various ports, may 
well be imagined. On January 17, 1803, the town of Wilming- 
ton, North Carolina, hastily memorialized Congress, stating the 
arrival of certain freed Negroes from Guadeloupe, and appre- 
hending " much danger to the peace and safety of the people 
of the Southern States of the Union" from the "admission of 
persons of that description into the United States." ^ The 
House committee which considered this petition hastened to 
agree "That the system of policy stated in the said memorial to 
exist, and to be now pursued in the French colonial government, 
of the West Indies, is fraught with danger to the peace and 
safety of the United States, That the fact stated to have oc- 
curred in the prosecution of that system of policy, demands 
the prompt interference of the Government of the United States, 
as well Legislative as Executive." * The result was a bill pro- 
viding for the forfeiture of any ship which should bring into 

1 Annals of Cong. ^ 6 Cong, i sess. pp. 699-700. 

2 Statutes at Large, II. 70. 

3 Annals of Cong., 7 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 3S5-6. 
* Ibid., p. 424. 



Sect. 50.] STATE OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. 85 

States prohibiting the same " any negro, mulatto, or other 
person of color; " the captain of the ship was also to be pun- 
ished. After some opposition ^ the bill became a law, Feb- 
ruary 28, 1803.- 

50. State of the Slave-Trade from 1789 to 18G3. Meantime, 
in spite of the prohibitory State laws, the African slave-trade to 
the United States continued to flourish. It was notorious that 
New England traders carried on a large traffic.^ Members stated 
on the floor of the House that " it was much to be regretted 
that the severe and pointed statute against the slave trade had 
been so little regarded. In defiance of its forbiddance and its 
penalties, it was well known that citizens and vessels of the 
United States were still engaged in that traffic. ... In various 
parts of the nation, outfits were made for slave-voyages, without 
secrecy, shame, or apprehension. . . . Countenanced by their 
fellow-citizens at home, who were as ready to buy as they them- 
selves were to collect and to bring to market, they approached 
our Southern harbors and inlets, and clandestinely disembarked 
the sooty offspring of the Eastern, upon the ill fated soil of the 
Western hemisphere. In this way, it had been computed that, 
during the last twelve months, twenty thousand enslaved negroes 
had been transported from Guinea, and, by smuggling, added to 
the plantation stock of Georgia and South Carolina. So little 
respect seems to have been paid to the existing prohibitory 
statute, that it may almost be considered as disregarded by 
common consent." ^ 

These voyages were generally made under the flag of a 
foreign nation, and often the vessel was sold in a foreign port 
to escape confiscation. South Carolina's own Congressman 
confessed that although the State had prohibited the trade since 
1788, she " was unable to enforce" her laws. " With navigable 
rivers running into the heart of it," said he, " it was impossible, 

1 See House Bills Nos. 89 and loi ; Annals of Cong., 7 Cong. 2 sess. 
pp. 424, 459-67. For the debate, see Ibid., pp. 459-72. 

2 Statutes at Large, II. 205. 

3 Cf. Fowler, Local Law in Massachusetts and Connecticut, etc., p. 126. 

* Speech of S. L. Mitchell of New York, Feb. 14, 1S04: Annals of 
Cong., 8 Cong, i sess. p. 1000. Cf. also speech of Cedinger : Ibid., pp. 997-8. 



86 TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

with our means, to prevent our Eastern brethren, who, in some 
parts of the Union, in defiance of the authority of the General 
Government, have been engaged in this trade, from introducing 
them into the country. The law was completely evaded, and, 
for the last year or two [1802-3], Africans were introduced into 
the country in numbers little short, I believe, of what they would 
have been had the trade been a legal one." ^ The same tale 
undoubtedly might have been told of Georgia. 

51. The South Carolina Repeal of 1803. This vast and appar- 
ently irrepressible illicit traffic was one of three causes which led 
South Carolina, December 17, 1803, to throw aside all pretence 
and legalize her growing slave-trade ; the other two causes were 
the growing certainty of total prohibition of the traffic in 1808, 
and the recent purchase of Louisiana by the United States, with 
its vast prospective demand for slave labor. Such a combina- 
tion of advantages, which meant fortunes to planters and 
Charleston slave-merchants, could not longer be withheld from 
them; the prohibition was repealed, and the United States 
became again, for the first time in at least five years, a legal, 
slave mart. This action shocked the nation, frightening South- 
ern States with visions of an influx of untrained barbarians 
and servile insurrections, and arousing and intensifying the 
anti-slavery feeling of the North, which had long since come 
to think of the trade, so far as legal enactment went, as a thing 
of the past. 

Scarcely a month after this repeal. Bard of Pennsylvania 
solemnly addressed Congress on the matter. " For many 
reasons," said he, " this House must have been justly surprised 
by a recent measure of one of the Southern States. The im- 
pressions, however, which that measure gave my mind, were 
deep and painful. Had I been informed that some formidable 
foreign Power had invaded our country, I would not, I ought 
not, be more alarmed than on hearing that South Carolina had 
repealed her law prohibiting the importation of slaves. . . . Our 
hands are tied, and we are obliged to stand confounded, while 
we see the flood-gate opened, and pouring incalculable miseries 

1 Speech of Lowndes in the House, Feb. 14, 1804: Annals of Cong., 8 
Cong., I sess. p. 992. Cf. Stanton's speech later: Ibid., 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 240. 



Sect. 52.] THE LOUISIANA SLAVE-TRADE. 8; 

into our country." ^ He then moved, as the utmost legal meas- 
ure, a tax of ten dollars per head on slaves imported. 

Debate on this proposition did not occur until February 14, 
when Lowndes explained the circumstances of the repeal, and a 
long controversy took place.^ Those in favor of the tax argued 
that the trade was wrong, and that the tax would serve as some 
slight check; the tax was not inequitable, for if a State did not 
wish to bear it she had only to prohibit the trade ; the tax 
would add to the revenue, and be at the same time a moral 
protest against an unjust and dangerous traffic. Against this 
it was argued that if the tax furnished a revenue it would defeat 
its own object, and make prohibition more difficult in 180S; it 
was inequitable, because it was aimed against one State, and 
would fall exclusively on agriculture ; it would give national 
sanction to the trade; it would look "like an attempt in the 
General Government to correct a State for the undisputed 
exercise of its constitutional powers;" the revenue would be 
inconsiderable, and the United States had nothing to do with 
the moral principle; while a prohibitory tax would be defen- 
sible, a small tax like this would be useless as a protection and 
criminal as a revenue measure. 

The whole debate hinged on the expediency of the measure, 
few defending South Carolina's action.^ Finally, a bill was 
ordered to be brought in, which was done on the r7th.^ An- 
other long debate took place, covering substantially the same 
ground. It was several times hinted that if the matter were 
dropped South Carolina might again prohibit the trade. This,' 
and the vehement opposition, at last resulted in the postpone- 
ment of the bill, and it was not heard from again during the; 
session. 

52. The Louisiana Slave-Trade, 1803-1805. About this time 

1 Ajuials of Cong., 8 Cong, i sess. pp. 820, 876. 

2 Ji,i(i_^ pp. ^92-1036. 

3 Huger of South Carolina declared that the whole South Carolina Con- 
gressional delegation opposed the repeal of the law, although they maintained 
the State's right to do so if she chose: Ibid., p. 1005. 

• ^ Ibid., pp. 1020-36; House Journal (repr. 1826), 8 Cong, i sess. IV. 
523, 578, 580, 581-5. 



88 TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

the cession of Louisiana brought before Congress the question 
of the status of slavery and the slave-trade in the Territories. 
Twice or thrice before had the subject called for attention. 
The first time was in the Congress of the Confederation, 
when, by the Ordinance of 1787,^ both slavery and the slave- 
trade were excluded from the Northwest Territory. In 1790 
Congress had accepted the cession of North Carolina back 
lands on the express condition that slavery there be undis- 
turbed.2 Nothing had been said as to slavery in the South 
Carolina cession (1787)/^ but it was tacitly understood that 
the provision of the Northwest Ordinance would not be applied. 
In 1798 the bill introduced for the cession of Mississippi con- 
tained a specific declaration that the anti-slavery clause of 1787 
should not be included.* The bill passed the Senate, but caused 
long and excited debate in the House.^ It was argued, on the 
one hand, that the case in Mississippi was different from that 
in the Northwest Territory, because slavery was a legal institu- 
tion in all the surrounding country, and to prohibit the institution 
was virtually to prohibit the settling of the country. On the 
other hand, Gallatin declared that if this amendment should not 
obtain, " he knew not how slaves could be prevented from being 
introduced by way of New Orleans, by persons who are not citi- 
zens of the United States." It was moved to strike out the 
excepting clause ; but the motion received only twelve votes, — 
an apparent indication that Congress either did not appreciate 
the great precedent it was establishing, or was reprehensibly 
careless. Harper of South Carolina then succeeded in building 
up the Charleston slave-trade interest by a section forbidding 
the slave traffic from " without the limits of the United States." 
Thatcher moved to strike out the last clause of this amendment, 
and thus to prohibit the interstate trade, but he failed to get a 
second.*^ Thus the act passed, punishing the introduction of 

1 On slavery in the Territories, cf. Welling, in Report Ainer. Hist. Assoc, 
1891, pp. 133-60. 

2 Statutes at La7-ge, I. 108. » Journals of Cong., XII. 137-8- 
* Antials of Cong., 5 Cong, i sess. pp. 511, 515, 532-3- 

^ Ibid., 5 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 1235, 1249, 1277-84, 1 296-1 31 3. 
6 Ibid., p. 1313. 



Sect. 52.] THE LOUISIANA SLAVE-TRADE. 89 

slaves from without the country by a fine of ^jOO for each slave, 
and freeing the slave.^ 

In 1804 President Jefferson communicated papers to Congress 
on the status of slavery and the slave-trade in Louisiana.^ The 
Spanish had allowed the traffic by edict in 1793, France had not 
stopped it, and Governor Claiborne had refrained from inter- 
ference. A bill erecting a territorial government was already 
pending.3 The Northern " District of Louisiana " was placed 
under the jurisdiction of Indiana Territory, and was made sub- 
ject to the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787. Various 
attempts were made to amend the part of the bill referring to 
the Southern Territory: first, so as completely to prohibit the 
slave-trade; "* then to compel the emancipation at a certain age 
of all those imported; ^ next, to confine all importation to that 
from the States;*^ and, finally, to limit it further to slaves im- 
ported before South Carolina opened her ports.'' The last two 
am.endments prevailed, and the final act also extended to the 
Territory the Acts of 1794 and 1803. Only slaves imported 
before May 1, 1798, could be introduced, and those must be 
slaves of actual settlers.^ All slaves illegally imported were ; 
freed. 

This stringent act was limited to one year. The next year, 
in accordance with the urgent petition of the inhabitants, a bill 
was introduced against these restrictions.^ By dexterous word- 
ing, this bill, which became a law March 2, 1805,^'' swept away 

^ Statutes at Large, I. 549. 

2 Amer. State Papers, Miscellaneojis, I. No. 177. 

8 Annals of Cong ., 8 Cong, i sess. pp. 106, 21 r, 223, 231, 233-4, 23S. 

4 Ibid., pp. 240, 1 1 86. 6 Ibid., p. 241. 

6 Ibid., p. 240. 7 ji,j^i^ p 2^2_ 

8 For further proceedings,' see //'/^., pp. 240-55, 1038-79, 112S-9, 11S5-9. 
For the law, see Statutes at Large, II. 283-9. 

9 First, a bill was introduced applying the Northwest Ordinance to the 
Territory {Annals of Cong., 8 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 45-6); but this was re- 
placed by a Senate bill {Ibid., p. 68; Senate Journal, repr. 1821, 8 Cong. 
2 sess. III. 464). For the petition of the inhabitants, see Annals of Cong., 
8 Cong. 2 sess. p. 727-8. 

10 The bill was hurried through, and there are no records of debate. Cf. 
Annals of Cong., 8 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 28-69, 7-7^ ^7^^ 9S7i 1016-20, 1213-5. 
In Senate Journal (repr. 1821), III., see Index, Bill No. 8. Importation 



90 TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

all restrictions upon the slave-trade except that relating to foreign 
ports, and left even this provision so ambiguous that, later, by 
judicial interpretation of the law,^ the foreign slave-trade was 
allowed, at least for a time. 

Such a stream of slaves now poured into the new Territory 
that the following year a committee on the matter was appointed 
by the House.- The committee reported that they "are in 
possession of the fact, that African slaves, lately imported into 
Charleston, have been thence conveyed into the territory of 
Orleans, and, in their opinion, this practice will be continued to 
a very great extent, while there is no law to prevent it." ^ The 
House ordered a bill checking this to be prepared ; and such a 
bill was reported, but was soon dropped.* Importations into 
South Carolina during this time reached enormous proportions. 
Senator Smith of that State declared from official returns that, j 
between 1803 and 1807, 39,075 Negroes were imported into' 
Charleston, most of whom went to the Territories.^ 

of slaves was allowed by a clause erecting a Frame of Government " similar " 
to that of the Mississippi Territory. 

1 Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. p. 443. The whole trade was prac- 
tically foreign, for the slavers merely entered the Negroes at Charleston and 
immediately reshipped them to New Orleans. Cf. Annals of Cong., 16 
Cong. I sess. p. 264. 

- Honse Journal (repr. 1826), 9 Cong, i sess. V. 264; Annals of Cong., 
9 Cong. I sess. pp. 445, 878. 

3 House Reports, 9 Cong, i sess. Feb. 17, 1806. 
* House Bill No. 123. 

s Annals of Cong., 16 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 73-7. This report covers the 
time from Jan. I, 1804, to Dec. 31, 1807. During that time the following 
Wcis the number of ships engaged in the traffic : — 

From Charleston, 61 From Connecticut, i 

" Rhode Island, 59 " Sweden, i 

" Baltimore, 4 " Great Britain, 70 

" Boston, I " France, 3 

" Norfolk, 2 — 

The consignees of these slave ships were natives of 

Charleston 13 

Rhode Island 88 

Great Britain 91 

France 10 

202 



Sect. 53] LAST ATTEMPTS AT TAXATION. 91 

53. Last Attempts at Taxation, 1805-1806. So alarming did 
the trade become that North Carohna passed a rcsokition in 
December, 1804,^ proposing that the States give Congress 
power to prohibit the trade. Massachusetts,^ Vermont,^ New 
Hampshire,* and Maryland^ responded; and a joint resolution 
was introduced in the House, proposing as an amendment to 
the Constitution " That the Congress of the United States shall 
have power to prevent the further importation of slaves into the 
United States and the Territories thereof."^ Nothing came of 
this efiort; but meantime the project of taxation was revived. 
A motion to this effect, made in February, 1805, was referred 
to a Committee of the Whole, but was not discussed. Early in 
the first session of the ninth Congress the motion of 1805 was 
renewed ; and although again postponed on the assurance 
that South Carolina was about to stop the trade,*" it finally 
came up for debate January 20, 1806.^ Then occurred a most 
stubborn legislative battle, which lasted during the whole ses- 
sion.^ Several amendments to the motion were first introduced, 

The following slaves were imported ; — 

By British vessels 1 9,949 

" French " 1,078 

21,027 
By American vessels: — 

" Charleston merchants 2,006 

" Rhode Island " 7,958 

" Foreign " 5,7 17 

" other Northern " 930 

" Southern " 1,437 18,048 

Total number of slaves imported, 1S04-7 39,o75 

It is, of course, highly probable that the Custom House returns were 
much below the actual figures. 

1 McAIaster, Hisioiy of the People of the United States, III. p. 517. 

2 House Jountal (repr. 1826), 8 Cong. 2 sess. V. 171 ; Mass. Resolves, 
May, 1S02, to March, 1806, Vol. II. A. (State House ed., p. 239). 

8 House fou mat {repr. 1826), 9 Cong, i sess. V. 238. 

4 /l>id., V. 266. 

5 Senate fou ma/ (repr. 1821), 9 Cong, i sess. IV. 76, 77, 79. 
^ House Joui-nal (repr. 1826), 8 Cong. 2 sess. V. 171. 

' Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. p. 274. 

8 Ibid., pp. 272-4, 323. 

9 Ibid., pp. 346-52, 358-75, etc., to 520. 



92 TOUSSAINT rOUVERTURE. [Chap. VII. 

so as to make it a:pply to all immigrants, and again to all " per- 
sons of color." As in the former debate, it was proposed to 
substitute a resolution of censure on South Carolina. All these 
amendments were lost. A long debate on the expediency of 
the measure followed, on the old grounds. Early of Georgia 
dwelt especially on the double taxation it would impose on 
Georgia ; others estimated that a revenue of one hundred thou- 
sand dollars might be derived from the tax, a sum sufficient to 
replace the tax on pepper and medicines. Angry charges 
and counter-charges were made, — e. g., that Georgia, though 
ashamed openly to avow the trade, participated in it as well as 
South Carolina. " Some recriminations ensued between several 
members, on the participation of the traders of some of the 
New England States in carrying on the slave trade." Finally, 
January 22, by a vote of 90 to 25, a tax bill was ordered 
to be brought in.^ One was reported on the 2'j'Ca? Every/ 
sort of opposition was resorted to. On the one hand, attempts ^ 
were made to amend it so as to prohibit importation after 1807, 
and to prevent importation into the Territories ; on the other 
hand, attempts were made to recommit and postpone the meas- 
ure. It finally got a third reading, but was recommitted to a 
select committee, and disappeared until February 14.-^ Being 
then amended so as to provide for the forfeiture of smuggled 
cargoes, but saying nothing as to the disposition of the slaves, 
it was again relegated to a committee, after a vote of 69 to 42 
against postponement* On March 4 it appeared again, and a 
motion to reject it was lost. Finally, in the midst of the war] 
scare and the question of non-importation of British goods, the/ 
bill was apparently forgotten, and the last attempt to tax im- 
ported slaves ended, like the others, in failure. 

54. Key-Hote of the Period. One of the last acts of this period 
strikes again the key-note which sounded throughout the whole 
of it. On February 20, 1806, after considerable opposition, a 
bill to prohibit trade with San Domingo passed the Senate.^ In 

^ Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. I sess. pp. 374-5. 
2 See House Bill No. 94. 

2 Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. p. 466. ^ Ibid., pp. 519-20. 

5 Ibid., pp. 21, 52, 75, etc., to 138, 485-515, 1228. See House Bill No. 
168. Cf. Statutes at Large, II. 421-2. 



Sect. 54.] KEY-NOTE OF THE PERIOD. 93 

the House it was charged by one side that the measure was 
dictated by France, and by the other, that it originated in the 
fear of countenancing Negro insurrection. The bill, however, 
became a law, and by continuations remained on the statute- 
books until 1809. Even at that distance the nightmare of 
the Ha}'tian insurrection continued to haunt the South, and a 
proposal to reopen trade with the island caused wild John Ran- 
dolph to point out the " dreadful evil " of a " direct trade be- 
twixt the town of Charleston and the ports of the island of St. 
Domingo." ^ 

Of the twenty years from 1787 to 1S07 it can only be said 
that they were, on the whole, a period of disappointment so 
far as the suppression of the slave-trade was concerned. Fear, 
interest, and philanthropy united for a time in an effort which 
bade fair to suppress the trade; then the real weakness of the 
constitutional compromise appeared, and the interests of the 
few overcame the fears and the humanity of the many. 

^ A few months later, at the expiration of the period, trade was quietly 
reopened. Annals of Cong., 11 Cong, i sess. pp. 443-6. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PERIOD OF ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. 1807-1825. 

55. The Act of 1807. 

56. The First Question: How shall illegally imported Africans be dis- 

posed of ? 

57. The Second Question : How shall Violations be punished ? 

SS. The Third Question: How shall the Interstate Coastwise Slave- 
Trade be protected .'* 

59. Legislative History of the Bill. 

60. Enforcement of the Act. 

61. Evidence of the Continuance of the Trade. 

62. Apathy of the Federal Government. 

63. Typical Cases. 

64. The Supplementary Acts, 1818-1820. 

65. Enforcement of the Supplementary Acts, 1818-1825. 

55. The Act of 1807. The first great goal of anti-slavery 
efifort in the United States had been, since the Revohition, the 
suppression of the slave-trade by national law. It would hardly 
be too much to say that the Haytian revolution, in addition to 
its influence in the years from 1791 to 1806, was one of the 
main causes that rendered the accomplishment of this aim pos- 
sible at the earliest constitutional moment. To the great influ- 
ence of the fears of the South was added the failure of the 
French designs on Louisiana, of which Toussaint L'Ouverture 
was the most probable cause. The cession of Louisiana in 
1803 challenged and aroused the North on the slavery question 
again ; put the Carolina and Georgia slave-traders in the saddle, 
to the dismay of the Border States; and brought the whole 
slave-trade question vividly before the public conscience. An- 
other scarcely less potent influence was, naturally, the great 



Sect. 55.] THE ACT OF 1801. 95 

anti-slavery movement in England, which after a mighty struggle 
of eighteen years was about to gain its first victory in the British 
Act of 1S07. 

President Jefferson, in his pacificatory message of December 
2, 1806, said: "I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the ap- 
proach of the period at which you may interpose your author- 
ity constitutionally, to withdraw the citizens of the United 
States from all further participation in those violations of human 
rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending 
inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation, 
and the best interests of our country, have long been eager to 
proscribe. Although no law you may pass can take prohibitory 
effect till the first day of the year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight, yet the intervening period is not too long to prevent, 
by timely notice, expeditions which cannot be completed before 
that day." ^ 

In pursuance of this recommendation, the very next day Senator 
Bradley of Vermont introduced into the Senate a bill which, after 
a complicated legislative history, became the Act of March 2, 
1807, prohibiting the African slave-trade.^ '-^-^ 

Three main questions were to be settled by this bill : first, 
and most prominent, that of the disposal of illegally imported 
Africans; second, that of the punishment of those concerned 
in the importation ; third, that of the proper limitation of the 
interstate traffic by water. 

The character of the debate on these three questions, as well 
as the state of public opinion, is illustrated by the fact that forty 
of the sixty pages of officially reported debates are devoted to 
the first question, less than twenty to the second, and only two to 
the third. A sad commentary on the previous enforcement of 
State and national laws is the readiness with which it was 
admitted that wholesale violations of the law would take place ; 
indeed, Southern men declared that no strict law against the 
slave-trade could be executed in the South, and that it was only 
by playing on the motives of personal interest that the trade 

1 House Journal (repr. 1826), 9 Cong. 2 sess. V. 468. 

2 Cf. below, § 59. 



96 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VI 1 1. 

could be checked. The question of punishment indicated the 
slowly changing moral attitude of the South toward the slave 
system. Early boldly said, " A large majority of people in 
the Southern States do not consider slavery as even an evil." ^ 
The South, in fact, insisted on regarding man-stealing as a 
minor offence, a " misdemeanor " rather than a " crime." 
Finally, in the short and sharp debate on the interstate coast- 
wise trade, the growing economic side of the slavery question 
came to the front, the vested interests' argument was squarely 
put, and the future interstate trade almost consciously provided 
for. 

From these considerations, it is doubtful as to how far it was 
expected that the Act of 1807 would check the slave traffic; at 
any rate, so far as the South was concerned, there seemed to be 
an evident desire to limit the trade, but little thought that this 
statute would definitively suppress it. 

56. The First Question: How shall illegally imported Africans 
be disposed of? The dozen or more propositions on the ques- 
tion of the disposal of illegally imported Africans may be divided 
into two chief heads, representing two radically opposed parties : 

1. That illegally imported Africans be free, although they might 
be indentured for a term of years or removed from the country. 

2. That such Africans be sold as slaves.^ The arguments on 

1 Amials of Cong. ^ 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 23S. 

2 There were at least twelve distinct propositions as to the disposal of the 
Africans imported : — 

1. That they be forfeited and sold by the United States at auction (Early's 
bill, reported Dec. 15 : Ibid., pp. 167-8). 

2. That they be forfeited and left to the disposal of the States (proposed by 
Bidwell and Early : Ibid., pp. 181, 221, 477. This was the final settlement.) 

3. That they be forfeited and sold, and that the proceeds go to charities, 
education, or internal improvements (Early, Holland, and Masters: Ibid., 

P- 273)- 

4. That they be forfeited and indentured for life (Alston and Bidwell : 

Ibid., pp. 1 70-1). 

5. That they be forfeited and indentured for 7, 8, or 10 years (Pitkin: 
Ibid., p. 186). 

6. That they be forfeited and given into the custody of the President, and 
by him indentured in free States for a term of years (bill reported from the 



Sect. 56.] THE FIRST QUESTION. 97 

these two propositions, which were many and far-reaching, may- 
be roughly divided into three classes, poHtical, constitutional, 
and moral. 

The political argument, reduced to its lowest terms, ran thus: 
those wishing to free the Negroes illegally imported declared that 
to enslave them would be to perpetrate the very evil which the 
law was designed to stop. " By the same lav/," they said, " we 
condemn the man-stealer and become the receivers of his stolen 
goods. We punish the criminal, and then step into his place, 
and complete the crime." ^ They said that the objection to free 
Negroes was no valid excuse ; for if the Southern people really 
feared this class, they would consent to the imposing of such 
penalties on illicit traffic as would stop the importation of a 
single slave.^ l^.Ioreover, "forfeiture" and sale of the Negroes 
implied a property right in them which did not exist.^ Waiving 
this technical point, and allowing them to be " forfeited " to the 
government, then the government should either immediately set 
them free, or, at the most, indenture them for a term of years; 
otherwise, the law would be an encouragement to violators. " It 
certainly will be," said they, " if the importer can find means to 
evade the penalty of the act ; for there he has all the advantage 
of a market enhanced by our ineffectual attempt to prohibit." * 
They claimed that even the indenturing of the ignorant bar- 
barian for life was better than slavery; and Sloan declared that 

Senate Jan. 28 : House Journal (repr. 1826), 9 Cong. 2 sess. V. 575 ; Annals 
of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 477. Cf. also Ibid., p. 272.) 

7. That the Secretary of the Treasury dispose of them, at his discretion, 
in service (Ouincy : Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 183). 

8. That those imported into slave States be returned to Africa or bound 
out in free States (Sloan : Ibid-, p- 254). 

9. That all be sent back to Africa (Smilie : Ibid., p. 176). 

ID. That those imported into free States be free, those imported into slave 
States be returned to Africa or indentured (Sloan: Ibid., p. 226). 

11. That they be forfeited but not sold (Sloan and others: Ibid., p. 270). 

12. That they be free (Sloan: Ibid., p. 168; Bidwell : House Journal 
(repr. 1S26), 9 Cong. 2 sess. V. 515). 

1 Bidwell, Cook, and others: An7ials of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sesS; p. 201. 

"^ Bidwell: Ibid., p. 172. 

' Fisk : Ibid., pp. 224-5; Bidwell: Ibid.,^. 221. 

* Quincy : Ibid., p. 184. 

7 



98 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

the Northern States would receive the freed Negroes willingly 
rather than have them enslaved.-^ 

The argument of those who insisted that the Negroes should 
be sold was tersely put by Macon: " In adopting our measures 
on this subject, we must pass such a law as can be executed." ^ 
Early expanded this : " It is a principle in legislation, as correct 
as any which has ever prevailed, that to give effect to laws you 
must not make them repugant to the passions and wishes of the 
people among whom they are to operate. How then, in this 
instance, stands the fact ? Do not gentlemen from every quarter 
of the Union prove, on the discussion of every question that has 
ever arisen in the House, having the most remote bearing on the 
giving freedom to the Africans in the bosom of our country, that 
it has excited the deepest sensibility in the breasts of those where 
slavery exists? And why is this so? It is, because those who, 
from experience, know the extent of the evil, believe that the 
most formidable aspect in which it can present itself, is by 
making these people free among them. Yes, sir, though slavery 
is an evil, regretted by every man in the country, to have among 
us in any considerable quantity persons of this description, is 
an evil far greater than slavery itself. Does any gentleman want 
proof of this? I answer that all proof is useless ; no fact can be 
more notorious. With this belief on the minds of the people 
where slavery exists, and where the importation will take place, 
if at all, we are about to turn loose in a state of freedom all 
persons brought in after the passage of this law. I ask gentle- 
men to reflect and say whether such a law, opposed to the ideas, 
the passions, the views, and the affections of the people of the 
Southern States, can be executed? I tell them, no; it is im- 
possible — why? Because no man will inform — why? Be- 
cause to inform will be to lead to an evil which will be deemed 
greater than the offence of which information is given, because 
it will be opposed to the principle of self-preservation, and to 
the love of family. No, no man will be disposed to jeopard 
his life, and the lives of his countrymen. A-nd if no one dare 

1 Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 478 ; Bidwell : Ibid., p. 171. 

2 Ibid., p. 172. 



Sect. 36.^ THE FIRST QUESTION. 99 

inform, the whole authority of the Government cannot carry 
the law into efifect The whole people will rise up against it. 
Why? Because to enforce it would be to turn loose, in the 
bosom of the country, firebrands that would consume them." ^ 

This was the more tragic form of the argument ; it also had 
a mercenary side, which was presented with equal emphasis. It 
was repeatedly said that the only way to enforce the law was to 
play off individual interests against each other. The profit from 
the sale of illegally imported Negroes was declared to be the 
only sufficient " inducement to give information of their impor- 
tation." ^ "Give up the idea of forfeiture, and I challenge the 
gentleman to invent fines, penalties, or punishments of any sort, 
sufficient to restrain the slave trade." ^ If such Negroes be 
freed, " I tell you that slaves will continue to be imported as here- 
tofore. . . , You cannot get hold of the ships employed in this 
traffic. Besides, slaves will be brought into Georgia from East 
Florida. They will be brought into the Mississippi Territory 
from the bay of Mobile. You cannot inflict any other penalty, 
or devise any other adequate means of prevention, than a for- 
feiture of the Africans in whose possession they may be found 
after importation." * Then, too, when foreigners smuggled in 
Negroes, " who then . . . could be operated on, but the pur- 
chasers? There was the rub — it was their interest alone which, 
by being operated on, would produce a check. Snap their 
purse-strings, break open their strong box, deprive them of their 
slaves, and by destroying the temptation to buy, you put an 
end to the trade, . . . nothing short of a forfeiture of the slave 
would afford an effectual remedy." ^ Again, it was argued that 
it was impossible to prevent imported Negroes from becoming 
slaves, or, what was just as bad, from being sold as vagabonds or 
indentured for life.^ Even our own laws, it was said, recognize 
the title of the African slave factor in the transported Negroes ; 

^ Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 173-4. 

^ Alston: Ibid., p. 170. 

3 D. R. Williams : Idid., p. 1S3. 

^ Early: Ibid., pp. 184-5. 

6 Lloyd, Early, and others : Ibid., p. 203. 

' Alston : Ibid., p. 170. 



100 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII, 

and if the importer have no title, why do we legislate? Why not 
let the African immigrant alone to get on as he may, just as we 
do the Irish immigrant?^ If he should be returned to Africa, 
his home could not be found, and he would in all probability 
be sold into slavery again.^ 

The constitutional argument was not urged as seriously as 
the foregoing; but it had a considerable place. On the one 
hand, it was urged that if the Negroes were forfeited, they were 
forfeited to the United States government, which could dispose 
of them as it saw fit; ^ on the other hand, it was said that the 
United States, as owner, was subject to State laws, and could not 
free the Negroes contrary to such laws."* Some alleged that the 
freeing of such Negroes struck at the title to all slave property; ^ 
others thought that, as property in slaves was not recognized in 
the Constitution, it could not be in a statute. •" The question 
also arose a-s to the source of the power of Congress over the 
slave-trade. Southern men derived it from the clause on com- 
merce, and declared that it exceeded the power of Congress to 
declare Negroes imported into a slave State, free, against the laws 
of that State ; that Congress could not determine what should 
or should not be property in a State.' Northern men replied 
that, according to this principle, forfeiture and sale in Massachu- 
setts would be illegal ; that the power of Congress over the 
trade was derived from the restraining clause, as a non-existent 
power could not be restrained; and that the United States 
could act under her general powers as executor of the Law of 
Nations.^ 

The moral argument as to the disposal of illegally imported 
Negroes was interlarded with all the others. On the one side, 
it began with the " Rights of Man," and descended to a stickling 

1 Ouincy : Annals of Cong., g Cong. 2 sess. p. 222 ; Macon : Ibid., p. 225. 

2 Macon: Ibid., p. 177. 

3 Barker: Ibid., p. 171 ; Bidvvell: Ibid., p. 172. 

* Clay, Alston, and Early : Ibid., p. 266. ^ /^/^. • 

^ Bidwell: Ibid., p. 221. 

■^ Sloan and others: Ibid., p. 271 ; Early and Alston : Ibid., pp. 16S, 171. 
8 Ely, Bidwell, and others: Ibid., pp. 179, 181, 271 : Smilie and Findley: 
Ibid., pp. 225, 226. 



Sect. 56.] THE FIRST QUESTION. lOI 

for the decent appearance of the statute-book; on the other 
side, it began with the uplifting of the heathen, and descended 
to a denial of the applicability of moral principles to the ques- 
tion. Said Holland of North Carolina: "It is admitted that 
the condition of the slaves in the Southern States is much 
superior to that of those in Africa. Who, then, will say that 
the trade is immoral? "^ But, in fact, "morality has nothing 
to do with this traffic," ^ for, as Joseph Clay declared, " it must 
appear to every man of common sense, that the question could 
be considered in a commercial point of view only." ^ The other 
side declared that, " by the laws of God and man," these cap- 
tured Negroes are "entitled to their freedom as clearly and 
absolutely as we are ; " ^ nevertheless, some were willing to 
leave them to the tender mercies of the slave States, so long 
as the statute-book was disgraced by no explicit recognition 
of slavery.^ Such arguments brought some sharp sarcasm on 
those who seemed anxious " to legislate for the honor and 
glory of the statute book;"^ some desired "to know what 
honor you will derive from a law that will be broken every day 
of your lives. " " They would rather boldly sell the Negroes 
and turn the proceeds over to charity. 

The final settlement of the question was as follows : — 

" Section 4. . . . And neither the importer, nor any person or per- 
sons claiming from or under him, shall hold any right or title whatsoever 
to any negro, mulatto, or person of color, nor to the service or labor 
thereof, who may be imported or brought within the United States, or 
territories thereof, in violation of this law, but the same shall remain 
subject to any regulations not contravening the provisions of this act, 
which the Legislatures of the several States or Territories at any time 
hereafter may make, for disposing of any such negro, mulatto, or person 
of color." ^ 

^ Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 240. Cf. Lloyd: Ibid., p. 236. 



- j^/ifiais oj i^o7ig., y v^ong. 2 sess. p. 

^ Holland: Idui., p. 241. 

3 //;/(/., p. 227; Macon : IbiW., p. 225. 

* Bidwell, Cook, and others: Idt'd., p. 201. 

^ Bidwell : Ib/d., p. 221. Cf. Idid., p. 202. 

^ Early: I5id., p. 239. 

' Idul 

8 Idi'd., p. 1267. 



102 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

57. The Second Question: How shall Violations be punished? 
The next point in importance was that of the punishment of 
offenders. The half-dozen specific propositions reduce them- 
selves to two: I. A violation should be considered a crime or 
felony, and be punished by death; 2. A violation should be 
considered a misdemeanor, and be punished by fine and 
imprisonment.^ 

Advocates of the severer punishment dwelt on the enormity 
of the offence. It was " one of the highest crimes man could 
commit," and " a captain of a ship engaged in this traffic was 
guilty of murder." ^ The law of God punished the crime with 
death, and any one would rather be hanged than be enslaved.^ 
It was a peculiarly deliberate crime, in which the offender did 
not act in sudden passion, but had ample time for reflection.* 
Then, too, crimes of much less magnitude are punished with 
death. Shall we punish the stealer of ^50 with death, and the 
man-stealer with imprisonment only?^ Piracy, forgery, and 
fraudulent sinking of vessels are punishable with death, " yet 
these are crimes only against property; whereas the importation 
of slaves, a crime committed against the liberty of man, and 
inferior only to murder or treason, is accounted nothing but a 
misdemeanor." ^ Here, indeed, lies the remedy for the evil of 
freeing illegally imported Negroes, — in making the penalty so 
severe that none will be brought in ; if the South is sincere, 

* There were about six distinct punishments suggested : — 

1. Forfeiture, and fine of $5000 to $10,000 (Early's bill : Annals of Cong., 
9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 167). 

2. Forfeiture and imprisonment (amendment to Senate bill : Ibid., pp. 
231,477, 4S3). 

3. Forfeiture, imprisonment from 5 to 10 years, and fine of $1000 to 
$10,000 (amendment to amendment of Senate bill: Ibid., pp. 22S, 483). 

4. Forfeiture, imprisonment from 5 to 40 years, and fine of $1000 to 
$10,000 (Chandler's amendment: Ibid., p. 228). 

5. Forfeiture of all property, and imprisonment (Pitkin: Ibid., p. 188). 

6. Death (Smilie : Ibid., pp. 189-90; bill reported to House, Dec. 19: 
Ibid., p. 190; Senate bill as reported to House, Jan. 28). 

"^ Smilie: Ibid.,Y>Y>- 189-90. 

8 Tallmadge : Ibid., p. 233; Olin : Ibid., p. 237. 

* Ely : Ibid., p. 237. 

s Smilie : Ibid., p. 236. Cf. Sloan : Ibid., p. 232. 

* Hastings : Ibid., p. 228. 



Sect. 57.] THE SECOND QUESTION. . 103 

" they will unite to a man to execute the law," ^ To free such 
Negroes is dangerous; to enslave them, wrong; to return them, 
impracticable; to indenture them, difficult, — therefore, by a 
death penalty, keep them from being imported.^ Here the 
East had a chance to throw back the taunts of the South, by 
urging the South to unite with them in hanging the New Eng- 
land slave-traders, assuring the South that " so far from 
charging their Southern brethren with cruelty or severity in 
hanging them, they would acknowledge the favor with grati- 
tude." ^ Finally, if the Southerners would refuse to execute so 
severe a law because they did not consider the offence great, 
they would probably refuse to execute any law at all for the 
same reason.* 

The opposition answered that the death penalty was more 
than proportionate to the crime, and therefore " immoral." '' 
" I cannot believe," said Stanton of Rhode Island, " that a man 
ought to be hung for only stealing a negro." *^ It was argued 
that the trade was after all but a " transfer from one master to 
another ; " ''' that slavery was worse than the slave-trade, and 
the South did not consider slavery a crime : how could it then 
punish the trade so severely and not reflect on the institution? ^ 
Severity, it was said, was also inexpedient: severity often in- 
creases crime; if the punishment is too great, people will sym- 
pathize with offenders and will not inform against them. Said 
Mr. Mosely : " When the penalty is excessive or disproportioned 
to the offence, it will naturally create a repugnance to the law, 
and render its execution odious." ^ John Randolph argued 
against even fine and imprisonment, " on the ground that such 
an excessive penalty could not, in such case, be constitutionally 

1 Dwight: Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 241 ; Ely : Ibid., p. 232. 

2 Mosely: Ibid., pp. 234-5. 

8 Tallmadge: Ibid., pp. 232, 234. Cf Dwight: Ibid., p. 241. 

* Varnum : Ibid., p. 243. 

5 Elmer: Ibid., p. 235. 

^ Ibid., p. 240. 

■^ Holland : Ibid., p. 240. 

8 Early: Ibid., pp. 23S-9; Holland: Ibid., p. 239. 

9 Ibid., p. 233. Cf. Lloyd: Ibid., p. 237; Ely: Ibid., p. 232; Early: 
Ibid., pp. 238-9. 



104 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

imposed by a Government possessed of the limited powers of 
the Government of the United States." ^ 

The bill as passed punished infractions as follows : — 

' For equipping a slaver, a fine of $20,000 and forfeiture of the ship. 

For transporting Negroes, a fine of $5000 and forfeiture of the ship 
and Negroes. 

For transporting and selling Negroes, a fine of $1000 to ^10,000, im- 
prisonment from 5 to 10 years, and forfeiture of the ship and Negroes. 

For knowingly buying illegally imported Negroes, a fine of $800 for 
each Negro, and forfeiture. 

58. The Third Question: How shall the Interstate Coastwise 
Slave-Trade be protected ? The first proposition was to prohibit 
the coastwise slave-trade altogether,^ but an amendment reported 
to the House allowed it " in any vessel or species of craft what- 
ever." It is probable that the first proposition would have 
prevailed, had it not been for the vehement opposition of Ran- 
dolph and Early.'^ They probably foresaw the value which 
Virginia would derive from this trade in the future, and conse- 
quently Randolph violently declared that if the amendment did 
not prevail, " the Southern people would set the law at defiance. 
He would begin the example." He maintained that by the 
first proposition " the proprietor of sacred and chartered rights 
is prevented the Constitutional use of his property." '' The Con- 
ference Committee finally arranged a compromise, forbidding 
the coastwise trade for purposes of sale in vessels under forty 
tons.^ This did not suit Early, who declared that the law with 
this provision " would not prevent the introduction of a single 
slave." '^ Randolph, too, would "rather lose the bill, he had 
rather lose all the bills of the session, he had rather lose every 
bill passed since the establishment of the Government, than 
agree to the provision contained in this slave bill." " 'He pre- 
dicted the severance of the slave and the free States, if disunion 

^ A/tnals of Cong.., 9 Cong. 2 sess. p. 484. 

2 This was the provision of the Senate bill as reported to the House. It 
was over the House amendment to this that the Houses disagreed. Cf. 
Ibid., p. 4S4. 

3 Cf. Ibid., pp. 527-8. •* Ibid., p. 528. 

5 Ibid, p. 626. 8 Ibid. ' Ibid. 



Sect. 59-] LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE BILL. 105 

should ever come. Congress was, however, weary with the 
dragging of the bill, and it passed both Houses with the com- 
promise provision, Randolph was so dissatisfied that he had a 
committee appointed the next day, and introduced an amenda- 
tory bill. Both this bill and another similar one, introduced at 
the next session, failed of consideration. ^ 

59. Legislative History of the Bill.^ On December 12, 1S05, 
Senator Stephen R. Bradley of Vermont gave notice of a bill 
to prohibit the introduction of slaves after 1808, By a vote 
of 18 to 9 leave was given, and the bill read a first time on 
the 17th. On the 1 8th, however, it was postponed until "the 
first Monday in December, 1806." The presidential message 
mentioning the matter. Senator Bradley, December 3, 1S06, 
gave notice of a similar bill, which was brought in on the 8th, 
and on the 9th referred to a committee consisting of Bradley, 
Stone, Giles, Gaillard, and Baldwin. This bill passed, after some 
consideration, January 27. It provided, among other things, that 
violations of the act should be felony, punishable with death, 
and forbade the interstate coast-trade.^ 

Meantime, in the House, Mr. Bidvvell of Massachusetts had 
proposed, February 4, 1806, as an amendment to a bill taxing 
slaves imported, that importation after December 31, 1807, be 
prohibited, on pain of fine and imprisonment and forfeiture of 
ship.'* This was rejected by a vote of 86 to 17. On December 
3, 1806, the House, in appointing committees on the message, 
" Ordered, That Mr. Early, Mr. Thomas M. Randolph, Mr. 
John Campbell, Mr. Kenan, Mr. Cook, Mr. Kelly, and Mr. Van 
Rensselaer be appointed a committee " on the slave-trade. 
This committee reported a bill on the 15th, which was con- 
sidered, but finally, December 18, recommitted. It was re- 

1 Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 636-8; House Journal (repr. 
1826), 9 Cong. 2 sess. V. 616, and House Bill No. 219; Ibid., 10 Cong. 
I sess. VI. 27, 50; Annals of Cong., 10 Cong, i sess. pp. 854-5, 961. 

2 On account of the meagre records it is difficult to follow the course of 
this bill. I have pieced together information from various sources, and trust 
that this account is approximately correct. 

3 Cf. Senate Journal (repr. 1821), 9 Cong. 2 sess. IV., Senate Bill No. 41. 
^ Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. p. 43S. Cf. above, § 53. 



I06 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

ported in an amended form on the 19th, and amended in 
Committee of the Whole so as to make violation a mis- 
demeanor punishable by fine and imprisonment, instead of a 
felony punishable by death.^ A struggle over the disposal 
of the cargo then ensued. A motion by Bidwell to except 
the cargo from forfeiture was lost, "J"] to 39. Another motion 
by Bidwell may be considered the crucial vote on the whole 
bill : it was an amendment to the forfeiture clause, and read, 
" Prozndcd, that no person shall be sold as a slave by virtue of 
this actr'^ This resulted in a tie vote, 60 to 60; but the cast- 
ing vote of the Speaker, Macon of North Carolina, defeated it. 
New England voted solidly in favor of it, the Middle States stood 
4 for and 2 against it, and the six Southern States stood solid 
against it. On January 8 the bill went again to a select committee 
of seventeen, by a vote of ^6 to 46. The bill was reported back 
amended January 20, and on the 2Sth the Senate bill was also 
presented to the House. On the 9th, loth, and nth of Feb- 
ruary both bills were considered in Committee of the Whole, 
and the Senate bill finally replaced the House bill, after several 
amendments had been made.^ The bill was then passed, by a 
vote of 113 to 5.* The Senate agreed to the amendments, 
including that substituting fine and imprisonment for the death 
penalty, but asked for a conference on the provision which 
left the interstate coast-trade free. The six conferees suc- 
ceeded in bringing the Houses to agree, by limiting the trade to 
vessels over forty tons and requiring registry of the slaves.^ 

1 This amendment of the Committee of the Whole was adopted by a vote 
cf 63 to 53. The New England States stood 3 to 2 for the death penalty ; 
the Middle States were evenly divided, 3 and 3 ; and the South stood 5 to o 
against it, with Kentucky evenly divided. Cf. Honse Journal (repr. 1826), 
9 Cong. 2 sess. V. 504. 

2 Ibid., V. 514-5. 

^ The substitution of the Senate bill was a victory for the anti-slavery 
party, as all battles had to be fought again. The Southern party, however, 
succeeded in carrying all its amendments. 

* Messrs. Betton of New Hampshire, Chittenden of Vermont, Garnett and 
Trigg of Virginia, and D. R. Williams of South Carolina voted against the 
bill : House Jotcrnal (repr. 1826), 9 Cong. 2 sess. V. 585-6. 

^ Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 626-7. 



Sect. 59.] 



HISTORY OF THE BILL. 



107 



The following diagram shows in graphic form the legislative 
history of the act : — 



Senate 



liradley gives notice. 
Leave given; bill read. 
Postponed one year. 



Notice. 

Bill introduced. 

Committed. 



Reported. 

Third reading. 
PASSED. 



Reported from House. 
Reported to House. 



House asks conference. 

Conference report 
adopted. 

Bill enrolled. 




House. 



JL Bidwell's amend- 
ment. 

^^ Committee on 
slave trade. 

Bill reported. 



Read third time; 
recommitted. 

Reported 

amended. 



Senate bill 
reported. 

Senate bill 
amended. 

P.'^SSED. 

Reported back. 

House insists; 

asksconfere*^" 

-s) 

Conft ilT re- 
port .adopted. 



Signed by the President.^ 



1 The unassigned dates refer to debates, etc. The history of the amend- 
ments and debates on the measure may be traced in the following references : — 

House (Bill No. 14S). 

A nnals of Cong. , 9 C^if;- i sess. p. 43S ; g Cong. 
2 sess. pp. 114. 151. i6'\'->s 173-41 iSo, 1S3, 189,200, 
202-4, 220, 228, 23T -'^o, 254, 264, 266-7, 270,273, 
373.427. 477. 4''i, 4' .*, 527. 52S, etc. 

House yourtial (,repr. 1826), 9 Cong. 1-2 sess. 
V. 470, 482, 43° 4'vo, 491, 4Q6, 500, 504, 510, 513-6, 
517. 540, S57. 57 j. 579. 581. 5S3-4, 585. 592. 594, 61°. 
613-5, 623, 638, 640, etc. 



Senate {B\\\ No. 41). 
Annals of Cov.g., 9 Cong, i sess. pp. 20-1; 
9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 16, 19, 23, 33, 36, 45, 47, 68, 69, 
70, 7'. 79, ^7. 93, etc. 

Senate Journal (repr. 1826), 9 Con.^. 1-2 sess. 
IV. II, 112, 123, 124, 132, 133, 150, 15S, 164, 165, 
167, 16S, etc. 



I08 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

This bill received the approval of President Jefferson, March 
2, 1807, and became thus the "Act to prohibit the importa- 
tion of Slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of 
the United States, from and after the first day of January, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight." ^- 
The debates in the Senate were not reported. Those in the 
House were prolonged and bitter, and hinged especially on the 
disposal of the slaves, the punishment of offenders, and the coast- 
trade. Men were continually changing their votes, and the bill 
see-sawed backward and forward, in committee and out, until 
the House was thoroughly worn out. On the whole, the strong 
anti-slavery men, like Bidwell and Sloan, were outgeneraled by 
Southerners, like Early and Williams; and, considering the 
immense moral backing of the anti-slavery party from the Revo- 
lutionary fathers down, the bill of 1807 can hardly be regarded 
as a great anti-slavery victory. 

60. Enforcement of the Act. The period so confidently 
looked forward to by the constitutional fathers had at last 
arrived; the slave-trade was prohibited, and much oratory 
and poetry were expended in celebration of the event. In 
the face of this, let us see how the Act of 1807 was enforced 
and what it really accomplished. It is noticeable, in the first 
place, that there was no especial set of machinery provided for 
the enforcement of this act. The work fell first to the Secretary 
of the Treasury, as head of the customs collection. Then, 
through the activity of cruisers, the Secretary of the Navy 
j^-adually came to have oversight, and eventually the whole 
mat, ^'r was lodged with him, although the Departments of State 
and \v^ar were more or less active on different occasions. Later, 
at the advent of the Lincoln government, the Department of the 
Interior was charged with the enforcement of the slave-trade 

^ Statutes at Large, II. 426. There were some few attempts to obtain 
laws of relief from this bill: see, e. g., Atmals of Cong., 10 Cong, i sess. 
p. 1243 ; II Cong. I sess. pp. 34, 36-9, 41, 43, 48, 49, 380, 465, 688, 706, 2209; 
House Jou:-nal (repr. 1826), 11 Cong. 1-2 sess. VII. 100, 102, 124, etc., and 
Index, Senate Bill No. 8. Cf. Atner. State Papers, Miscellaneous, II. No. 
269. There wa« also one proposed amendment to make the prohibition per- 
petual: Amer. 6,'^te Papers, Miscellaneous, I. No. 244. 



Sect. 6i.] CONTINUANCE OF THE TRADE. 1 09 

laws. It would indeed be surprising if, amid so much uncer- 
tainty and shifting of responsibihty, the law were not poorly 
enforced. Poor enforcement, moreover, in the years 1808 to 
1820 meant far more than at almost any other period ; for these 
years were, all over the European world, a time of stirring 
economic change, and the set which forces might then take 
would in a later period be unchangeable without a cataclysm. 
Perhaps from 1808 to 18 14, in the midst of agitation and war, 
there was some excuse for carelessness. From 18 14 on, how- 
ever, no such palliation existed, and the law was probably 
enforced as the people who made it wished it enforced. •- 

Most of the Southern States rather tardily passed the neces- 
sary supplementary acts disposing of illegally imported Afri- 
cans. A few appear not to have passed any. Some of these 
laws, like the Alabama-Mississippi Territory Act of 1815,-^ 
directed such Negroes to be " sold by the proper officer of 
the court, to the highest bidder, at public auction, for ready 
money." One-half the proceeds went to the informer or to the 
collector of customs, the other half to the public treasury. 
Other acts, like that of North Carolina in 1816,^ directed 
the Negroes to "be sold and disposed of for the use of the 
state." One-fifth of the proceeds went to the informer. The 
Georgia Act of 1817^ directed that the slaves be either sold or 
given to the Colonization Society for transportation, providing 
the society reimburse the State for all expense incurred, and 
pay for the transportation. In this manner, machinery of 
somewhat clumsy build and varying pattern was provided for 
the carrying out of the national act. X' 

61. Evidence of the Continuance of the Trade. Undoubtedly, 
the Act of 1807 came very near being a dead letter. The testi- 
mony supporting this view is voluminous. It consists of presi- 
dential messages, reports of cabinet officers, letters of collectors 
of revenue, letters of district attorneys, reports of committees 
of Congress, reports of naval commanders, statements made on 

^ Toulmin, Digest of the Laws of Alabama, p. 637. 
2 Laws of North Carolina (revision of 1S19), II. 1350. 
s Prince, Digest, p. 793. 



no ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

the floor of Congress, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the 
complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery societies. 

" When I was young," writes Mr. Fowler of Connecticut, 
" the slave-trade was still carried on, by Connecticut ship-masters 
and Merchant adventurers, for the supply of southern ports. 
This trade was carried on by the consent of the Southern States, 
under the provisions of the Federal Constitution, until 1808, and, 
after that time, clandestinely. There was a good deal of con- 
versation on the subject, in private circles." Other States were 
said to be even more involved than Connecticut.^ The African 
Society of London estimated that, down to 18 16, fifteen of the 
sixty thousand slaves annually taken from Africa were shipped 
by Americans. " Notwithstanding the prohibitory act of 
America, which was passed in 1807, ships bearing the American 
flag continued to trade for slaves until 1809, when, in conse- 
quence of a decision in the Fnglish prize appeal courts, which 
rendered American slave ships liable to capture and condem- 
nation, that flag suddenly disappeared from the coast. Its place 
was almost instantaneously supplied by the Spanish flag, which, 
with one or two exceptions, w'as now seen for the first time on 
the African coast, engaged in covering the slave trade. This 
sudden substitution of the Spanish for the American flag seemed 
to confirm what was established in a variety of instances by 
more direct testimony, that the slave trade, which now, for the 
first time, assumed a Spanish dress, was in reality only the 
trade of other nations in disguise."^ 

So notorious did the participation of Americans in the traffic 
become, that President Madison informed Congress in his mes- 
sage, December 5, 1810, that "it appears that American citi- 
zens are instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, 
equally in violation of the laws of humanity, and in defiance of 
those of their own country. The same just and benevolent 
motives which produced the interdiction in force against this 
criminal conduct, will doubtless be felt by Congress, in devising 

^ Fowler, Historical Status of the Negro in Connecticut, in Local Laiu, 
etc., pp. 122, 126. 

2 House Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, p. 32. 



Sect. 6 1.] CONTINUANCE OF THE TRADE. Ill 

further means of suppressing the evil." ^ The Secretary of the 
Navy wrote the same year to Charleston, South Carolina : •' I 
hear, not without great concern, that the law prohibiting the 
importation of slaves has been violated in frequent instances, 
near St. Mary's." ^ Testimony as to violations of the law 
and suggestions for improving it also came in from district 
attorneys.^ 

The method of introducing Negroes was simple. A slave 
smuggler says : " After resting a few days at St. Augustine, 
... I agreed to accompany Diego on a land trip through the 
United States, where a kafflc of negroes was to precede us, 
for whose disposal the shrewd Portuguese had already made 
arrangements with my uncle's consignees. I soon learned how 
readily, and at what profits, the Florida negroes we're sold into 
the neighboring American States. The kaffle, under charge 
of negro drivers, was to strike up the Escambia River, and 
thence cross the boundary into Georgia, where some of our 
wild Africans were mixed with various squads of native blacks, 
and driven inland, till sold off, singly or by couples; on the 
road. At this period [1S12], the United States had declared 
the African slave trade illegal, and passed stringent laws to pre- 
vent the importation of negroes; yet the Spanish possessions 
were thriving on this inland exchange of negroes and mulattoes ; 
Florida was a sort of nursery for slave-breeders, and many 
American citizens grew rich by trafficking in Guinea negroes, 
and smuggling them continually, in small parties, through the 
southern United States. At the time I mention, the business 
was a lively one, owing to the war then going on between the 
States and England, and the unsettled condition of affairs on 
the border."'^ 

The Spanish flag continued to cover xA.merican slave-traders. 
The rapid rise of privateering during the war was not caused 

1 Hotise Jonrnal (repr. 1826), 11 Cong. 3 sess. VII. p. 435. 

2 House Doc, 15 Cong. 2 sess, IV. No. 84, p. 5. 

8 See, e. g., Hoitse Journal (repr. 1826), 11 Cong. 3 sess. VII. p. 575. 

* Drake, Revelations of a Slave Sinugqlc}% p. 51. Parts of this narrative 
are highly colored and untrustworthy ; this passage, however, has every ear- 
mark of truth, and is confirmed by many incidental allusions. 



112 A TTEMP TED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

solely by patriotic motives ; for many armed ships fitted out in 
the United States obtained a thin Spanish disguise at Havana, 
and transported thousands of slaves to Brazil and the West 
Indies. Sometimes all disguise was thrown aside, and the 
American flag appeared on the slave coast, as in the cases of 
the "Paz,"i the "Rebecca,", the "Rosa" 2 (formerly the pri- 
vateer " Commodore Perry"), the " Dorset" of Baltimore,^ and 
the " Saucy Jack." '^ Governor McCarthy of Sierra Leone 
wrote, in 181 7: " The slave trade is carried on most vigorously 
by the Spaniards, Portuguese, Americans and French. I have 
had it affirmed from several quarters, and do believe it to be 
a fact, that there is a greater number of vessels employed in 
that traffic than at any former period." ^ 

62. Apathy of the Federal Government. The United States 
cruisers succeeded now and then in capturing a slaver, like the 
" Eugene," which was taken when within four miles of the New 
Orleans bar.*^ President Madison again, in 18 16, urged Con- 
gress to act on account of the " violations and evasions which, 
it is suggested, are chargeable on unworthy citizens, who mingle 
in the slave trade under foreign flags, and with foreign ports ; 
and by collusive importations of slaves into the United States, 
through adjoining ports and territories." '^ The executive was 
continually in receipt of ample evidence of this illicit trade 
and of the helplessness of officers of the law. In 18 17 it was 
reported to the Secretary of the Navy that most of the goods 

1 For accounts of these slavers, see House Reports, 1 7 Cong, i sess. II. No. 
92, pp. 30-50. The "Paz " was an armed slaver flying the American flag. , 

2 Said to be owned by an Englishman, but fitted in America and manned 
by Americans. It was eventually captured by H. M. S. " Bann," after a 
hard fight. 

^ Also called Spanish schooner " Triumvirate," vv'ith American super- 
cargo, Spanish captain, and American, French, Spanish, and English crew. 
It was finally captured by a British vessel. 

* An American slaver of 1814, which was boarded by a British vessel. 
All the above cases, and many others, were proven before British courts. 

^ Hojise Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, p. 51. 

^ House Doc, 15 Cong, i sess. II. No. 12, pp. 22, 38. This slaver was 
after capture sent to New Orleans, — an illustration of the irony of the Act 
of 1807. 

'' House Journal, 14 Cong. 2 sess. p. 15. 



Sect. 62.] APATHY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. II3 

carried to Galveston were brought into the United States ; " the 
more valuable, and the slaves are smuggled in through the 
numerous inlets to the westward, where the people are but too 
much disposed to render them every possible assistance. Sev- 
eral hundred slaves are now at Galveston, and persons have 
gone from New-Orleans to purchase them. Every exertion 
will be made to intercept them, but I have little hopes of 
success." ^ Similar letters from naval officers and collectors 
showed that a system of slave piracy had arisen since the 
war, and that at Galveston there was an establishment of 
organized brigands, who did not go to the trouble of sailing 
to Africa for their slaves, but simply captured slavers and 
sold their cargoes into the United States. • This Galveston 
nest had, in 18 17, eleven armed vessels to prosecute the work, 
and " the most shameful violations of the slave act, as well as 
our revenue laws, continue to be practised." ^ Cargoes of as 
many as three hundred slaves were arriving in Texas. All 
this took place under Aury, the buccaneer governor; and 
when he removed to Amelia Island in 18 17 with the McGregor 
raid, the illicit traffic in slaves, which had been going on there 
for years,^ took an impulse that brought it even to the some- 
what deaf ears of Collector Bullock. He reported, May 22, 
1817: "I have just received information from a source on 
which I can implicitly rely, that it has' already become the 
practice to introduce into the state of Georgia, across the 
St. Mary's River, from Amelia Island, East Florida, Africans, 
who have been carried into the Port of Fernandina, subse- 
quent to the capture of it by the Patriot army now in posses- 
sion of it ... ; were the legislature to pass an act giving 
compensation in some manner to informers, it would have a 
tendency in a great degree to prevent the practice; as the 

1 House Doc, 16 Cong, i sess. III. No. 2,^i, p. 5. 

2 Ibid., 15 Cong, i sess. II. No. 12, pp. S-14. See Chew's letter of Oct. 
17. 1817: Ibid., pp. 14-16. 

^ By the secret Joint Resolution and Act of iSi i {Statutes at Large, III. 
471), Congress gave the President power to suppress the Amelia Island 
establishment, which was then notorious. The capture was not accom- 
plished until 1S17. 

8 



114 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

thing now is, no citizen will take the trouble of searching 
for and detecting the slaves, I further understand, that the evil 
will not be confined altogether to Africans, but will be extended 
to the worst class of West India slaves."^ / 

Undoubtedly, the injury done by these pirates to the regu- 
lar slave-trading interests was largely instrumental in extermi- 
nating them. Late in 1817 United States troops seized Amelia 
Island, and President Monroe felicitated Congress and the coun- 
try upon escaping the "annoyance and injury" of this illicit 
trade.^ The trade, however, seems to have continued, as is 
shown by such letters as the following, written three and a half 

months later : — 

Port of Darien, March 14, 1818. 

. . . It is a painful duty, sir, to express to you, that I am in possession 
of undoubted information, that African and West India negroes are al- 
most daily illicitly introduced into Georgia, for sale or settlement, or 
passing through it to the territories of the United States for similar pur- 
poses ; these facts are notorious ; and it is not unusual to see such 
negroes in the streets of St. Mary's, and such too, recently captured by 
our vessels of war, and ordered to Savannah, were illegally bartered by 
hundreds in that city, for this bartering or bonding (as // is called, but in 
reality selling,) actually took place before any decision had [been] passed 
by the court respecting them. I cannot but again express to you, sir, 
that these irregularities and mocking of the laws, by men who understand 
them, and who, it was presumed, would have respected them, are such, 
that it requires the immediate interposition of Congress to effect a sup- 
pression of this traffic ; for, as things are, should a faithful officer of the 
government apprehend such negroes, to avoid the penalties imposed by 
the laws, the proprietors disclaim them, and some agent of the executive 
demands a delivery of the same to him, who may employ them as he 
pleases, or effect a sale by way of a bond, for the restoration of the 
negroes when legally called on so to do ; which bond, it is understood, 
is to be forfeited, as the amount of the bond is so much less than the 
value of the property. . . . There are many negroes . . . recently 

1 House Doc., 16 Cong, i sess. III. No. 42, pp. lo-ii. Cf. Report of the 
House Committee, Jan. 10, 1818: "It is but too notorious that numerous 
infractions of the law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United 
States have been perpetrated with impunity upon our southern frontier." 
Amer. State Papers, Miscellaneotis, II. No. 441. 

^ Special message of Jan. 13, 1818: House Journal, 15 Cong, i sess. 

PP- m~9- 



1 



Sect. 62.] APATHY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 1 15 

introduced into this state and the Alabama territory, and which can be 
apprehended. The undertaking would be great; but to be sensible that 
we shall possess your approbation, and that we are carrying the views and 
wishes of the government into execution, is all we wish, and it shall be 
done, independent of every personal consideration. 

I have, etc,^ 

This " approbation " failed to come to the zealous collector, 
and on the 5th of July he wrote that, "not being favored with a 
reply," he has been obliged to deliver over to the governor's 
agents ninety-one illegally imported Negroes.^ Reports from 
other districts corroborate this testimony. The collector at 
Mobile writes of strange proceedings on the part of the courts.^ 
General D. B. Mitchell, ex-governor of Georgia and United 
States Indian agent, after an investigation in 1821 by Attorney- 
General Wirt, was found " guilty of having prostituted his power, 
as agent for Indian affairs at the Creek agency, to the purpose 
of aiding and assisting in a conscious breach of the act of Con- 
gress of 1807, in prohibition of the slave trade — and this from 
mercenary motives.'"* The indefatigable Collector Chew of 
New Orleans wrote to Washington that, " to put a stop to that 
traffic, a naval force suitable to those waters is indispensable." 
and that "vast numbers of slaves will be introduced to an 
alarming extent, unless prompt and effectual measures are 
adopted by the general government." ^ Other collectors con- 
tinually reported infractions, complaining that they could get 
no assistance from the citizens,^ or plaintively asking the ser- 
vices of " one small cutter." ^ 

Meantime, what was the response of the government to such 
representations, and what efforts were made to enforce the act? 
A few unsystematic and spasmodic attempts are recorded. In 
181 1 some special instructions were sent out,^ and the President 

1 Collector Mcintosh, of the District of Brunswick, Ga., to the Secretary 
of the Treasury. House Doc, 16 Cong, i sess. III. No. 42, pp. 8-9. 

2 Ibid., pp. 6-1. 8 ji,i,i^ pp_ ji_,2. 
* Ainer. State Papers, Miscellaneous, II. No. 529. 

5 Hotise Doc, 16 Cong, i sess. III. No. 42, p. 7. 
« Ibid., p. 6. 

' House Reports, 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 348, p. 82. 
8 They were not general instructions, but were directed to Commander 
Campbell. Cf. House Doc, 15 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 84, pp. 5-6. 



1 1 6 A TTEMP TED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

was authorized to seize Amelia Island.^ Then came the war ; 
and as late as November 15, 181 8, in spite of the complaints of 
collectors, we find no revenue cutter on the Gulf coast.^ During 
the years 18 17 and 1818^ some cruisers went there irregularly, 
but they were too large to be effective ; and the partial suppres- 
sion of the Amelia Island pirates was all that was accomplished. 
On the whole, the efforts of the government lacked plan, 
energy, and often sincerity. Some captures of slavers were 
made ; '^ but, as the collector at Mobile wrote, anent certain cases, 
" this was owing rather to accident, than any well-timed ar- 
rangement." He adds : " from the Chandalier Islands to the 
Perdido river, including the coast, and numerous other islands, 
we have only a small boat, with four men and an inspector, to 
oppose to the whole confederacy of smugglers and pirates."^ 

To cap the climax, the government officials were so negli- 
gent that Secretary Crawford, in 1820, confessed to Congress 
that " it appears, from an examination of the records of this 
office, that no particular instructions have ever been given, by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, under the original or supple- 
mentary acts prohibiting the introduction of slaves into the 
United States."^ Beside this inactivity, the government was 
criminally negligent in not prosecuting and punishing offenders 
when captured. Urgent appeals for instruction from prose- 
cuting attorneys were too often received in official silence; 
complaints as to the violation of law by State officers went un- 
heeded ; " informers were unprotected and sometimes driven 

^ Statutes at Large, III. 471 ff. 

2 House Doc, 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI. No. 107, pp. 8-9. 

^ Ibid., IV. No. 84. Cf. Chew's letters in Hoiise Reports, 21 Cong. 
I sess. III. No. 348. 

* House Doc., 15 Cong, i sess. II. No. 12, pp. 22, 38; 15 Cong. 2 sess. 
VI. No. 100, p. 13; 16 Cong. I sess. III. No. 42, p. 9, etc.; House Reports, 
21 Cong. I sess. III. No. 348, p. 85. 

^ House Doc., 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI. No. 107, pp. 8-9. 

^ House Reports, 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 348, p. jy. 

"^ Cf. House Doc, 16 Cong, i sess. III. No. 42, p. 11 : "The Grand Jury 
found true bills against the owners of the vessels, masters, and a supercargo 
— all of whom are discharged ; why or wherefore I cannot say, except that 
it could not be for want of proof against them." 



Sect. 63-] TYPICAL CASE II7 

from home.^ Indeed, tlie most severe comment on the whole 
period is the report, January 7, 18 19, of the Register of the Treas- 
ury, who, after the wholesale and open violation of the Act of 
1807, reported, in response to a request from the House, " that 
it doth not appear, from an examination of the records of this 
office, and particularly of the accounts (to the date of their last 
settlement) of the collectors of the customs, and of the several 
marshals of the United States, that any forfeitures had been 
incurred under the said act." ^ 

63. Typical Cases. At this date (January 7, 18 19), however, 
certain cases were stated to be pending, a history of which will fitly 
conclude this discussion. In 181 8 three American schooners 
sailed from the United States to Havana; on June 2 they started 
back with cargoes aggregating one hundred and seven slaves. 
The schooner "Constitution" was captured by one of Andrew 
Jackson's officers under the guns of Fort Barancas. The 
"Louisa" and "Marino" were captured by Lieutenant Mc- 
Keever of the United States Navy. The three vessels were duly 
proceeded against at Mobile, and the case began slowly to drag 
along. The slaves, instead of being put under the care of the 
zealous marshal of the district, were placed in the hands of three 
bondsmen, friends of the judge. The marshal notified the 
government of this irregularity, but apparently received no 
answer. In 1822 the three vessels were condemned as forfeited, 
but the court " reserved " for future order the distribution of 
the slaves. Nothing whatever either then or later was done 
to the slave-traders themselves. The owners of the ships 
promptly appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, 
and that tribunal, in 1824, condemned the three vessels and the 
slaves on two of them.^ These slaves, considerably reduced in 
number " from various causes," were sold at auction for the^- 

1 E. g , in July, 1818, one informer "will have to leave that part of the 
country to .save his life " : Ibid., 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI, No. 100, p. 9. 

2 Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury, to Hon. W. H. Crawford, 
Secretary of the Treasury: Ibid., 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI. No. 107, p. 5. 

3 The slaves on the "Constitution" were not condemned, for the technical 
reason that she was not captured by a commissioned ofticer of the United 
States navy. 



Il8 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

benefit of the State, in spite of the Act of 1819. Meantime, 
before the decision of the Supreme Court, the judge of the 
Supreme Court of West Florida had awarded to certain alleged 
Spanish claimants of the slaves indemnity for nearly the whole 
number seized, at the price of $650 per head, and the Secretary 
of the Treasury had actually paid the claim.^ In 1826 Lieu- 
tenant McKeever urgently petitions Congress for his prize- 
money of $4,415.15, which he has not yet received.^ The 
" Constitution " was for some inexplicable reason released from 
bond, and the whole case fades in a very thick cloud of official 
mist. In 1 83 1 Congress sought to inquire into the final dispo- 
sition of the slaves. The information given was never printed ; 
but as late as 1836 a certain Calvin Mickle petitions Congress 
for reimbursement for the slaves sold, for their hire, for their 
natural increase, for expenses incurred, and for damages.^ 

64. The Supplementary Acts, 1818-1820. To remedy the ob- 
vious defects of the Act of 1807 two courses were possible : one, 
to minimize the crime of transportation, and, by encouraging 
informers, to concentrate efforts against the buying of smuggled 
slaves ; the other, to make the crime of transportation so great 
that no slaves would be imported. The Act of 1818 tried the 
first method; that of 1819, the second.* The latter was ob- 
viously the more upright and logical, and the only method 
deserving thought even in 1807; but the Act of 18 18 was the 
natural descendant of that series of compromises which . began 

^ These proceedings are very obscure, and little was said about them. 
The Spanish claimants were, it was alleged with much probability, but rep- 
resentatives of Americans. The claim was paid under the provisions of the 
Treaty of Florida, and included slaves whom the court afterward declared 
forfeited. 

2 An act to relieve him was finally passed, Feb. 8, 1827, nine years after 
the capture. See Statutes at Large, VI. 357. 

8 It is difficult to get at the exact facts in this complicated case. The 
above statement is, I think, much milder than the real facts would warrant, 
if thoroughly known. Cf. House Reports, 19 Cong, i sess. II. No. 231 ; 21 
Cong. I sess. III. No. 348, pp. 62-3, etc.; 24 Cong, i sess. I. No. 209; 
A liter. State Papers, Naval, II. No. 308. 

* The first method, represented by the Act of 1818, was favored by the 
South, the Senate, and the Democrats; the second method, represented 
by the Act of 1819, by the North, the House, and by the as yet undeveloped 
but growing Whig party. 



Sect. 64.] THE SUPPLEMENTARY ACTS. II9 

in the Constitutional Convention, and which, instead of postpon- \ 
ing the settlement of critical questions to more favorable times, / 
rather aggravated and complicated them. 

The immediate cause of the Act of 18 18 was the Amelia 
Island scandal.i Committees in both Houses reported bills, 
but that of the Senate finally passed. There does not appear 
to have been very much debate.^ The sale of Africans for the 
benefit of the informer and of the United States was strongly 
urged " as the only means of executing the laws against the 
slave trade as experience had fully demonstrated since the 
origin of the prohibition." « This proposition was naturally 
opposed as " inconsistent with the principles of our Govern- 
ment, and calculated to throw as wide open the door to the im- 
portation of slaves as it was before the existing prohibition." * 
The act, which became a law April 20, i8i8,5 was a poorly 
constructed compromise, which virtually acknowledged the fail- 
ure of eff-orts to control the trade, and sought to remedy defects 
by pitting cupidity against cupidity, informer against thief One- 

^ Committees on the slave-trade were appointed by the House in iSro '" 
and 1S13; the committee of 1813 recommended a revision of the laws 
but nothmg was done: Annals of Cong., 11 Cong. 3 sess. p. 387; 12 Cone.' 
2 sess. pp. 1074. 1090. The presidential message of 1S16 led to commit 
tees on the trade m both Houses. The committee of the House of Repre- 
sentafves rejwted a joint resolution on abolishing the traffic and colonizing 
the Negroes, also looking toward international action. This never came to 
a vote: Senate Journal, 14 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 46, 179, 180; House Journal 
14 Cong 2 sess. pp. 25, 27, 3S0 ; House Doc, 14 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 77 
Fmal y, the presidential message of 1S17 {House Journal, 15 Con- i sess 

lj2-^''''Tf7 '''' ■''"""'' °^ ""'^''^ ^^ ^"PP'-^^^ the Amelfa Island 
establishment led to two other committees in both Houses. The House 
committee under Middleton made a report with a bill {Amer. State Pa^ 
Jnsallaneous, II. No. 440, and the Senate committee also reported a bill. • 

H. ^ uT'" " '"''" '"'■'■"^y unreported, and the report of the 

House debates ,s very meagre. For the proceedings, see Senate JourZ 

Jn6 "^' ' T ^^•;'^^' ^°4' ^'^' ^^- ^3S, 340, 348, 377, 3S6, 3S8, 391, 403 
406; House Journal, 15 Cong, i sess. pp. 10 20 -'o c, 02 At 'LZ 
450, 453, 456, 468, 479, 484, 492, 505. "'^' ^ ' ^ ' ^ ' ^ ■' '^'°' 

'Simians of South Carolina, Edwards of North Carolina, and Pindall 
Annals of Cong., 15 Cong, i sess. p. 1740. ' 

* Hugh Nelson of Virginia: Annals of Cong, 15 Cong, i sess. p. 1740. 

Ac on r ''\ "• '^'°' ^' ''''' ''' ^^^ fi-^ ^- -^tions of the 

Act ot 1807 were repealed. 



120 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

half of all forfeitures and fines were to go to the informer, and 
penalties for violation were changed as follows : — 

For equipping a slaver, instead of a fine of $20,000, a fine of $1000 to 
$5000 and imprisonment from 3 to 7 years. 

For transporting Negroes, instead of a fine of $5000 and forfeiture of 
ship and Negroes, a fine of $1000 to $5000 and imprisonment from 3 to 
7 years. 

For actual importation, instead of a fine of $1000 to $10,000 and 
imprisonment from 5 to 10 years, a fine of $1000 to $10,000, and impris- 
onment from 3 to 7 years. 

For knowingly buying illegally imported Negroes, instead of a fine of 
$800 for each Negro and forfeiture, a fine of $1000 for each Negro. 

The burden of proof was laid on the defendant, to the extent 
that he must prove that the slave in question had been imported 
at least five years before the prosecution. The slaves were still 
left to the disposal of the States. 

This statute was, of course, a failure from the start,^ and at 
the very next session Congress took steps to revise it. A bill 
was reported in the House, January 13, 1819, but it was not 
discussed till March.^ It finally passed, after " much debate." ^; 
The Senate dropped its own bill, and, after striking out the pro- 
vision for the death penalty, passed the bill as it came from the 
House.'* The House acquiesced, and the bill became a law, 
March 3, 1819,'^ in the midst of the Missouri trouble. This act 
directed the President to use armed cruisers on the coasts of the 

1 Or, more accurately speaking, every one realized, in view of the in- 
creased activity of tlie trade, that it would be a failure. 

2 Nov. iS, 1818, the part of the presidential message referring to the slave- 
trade was given to a committee of the House, and this committee also took 
in hand the House bill of the previous session which the Senate bill had re- 
placed : House Journal, 15 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 9-19,42, 150, 179, 330, 334, 341, 

343' 352. 

3 Of which little was reported: Annals of Cong., 15 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 
1430-31. Strother opposed, "for various reasons of expediency," the boun- 
ties for captors. Nelson of Virginia advocated the death penalty, and, aided 
by Pindall, had it inserted. The vote on the bill was 57 to 45. 

4 The Senate had also had a committee at work on a bill which was 
reported Feb. 8, and finally postponed: Senate Journal, 15 Cong. 2 sess. 
pp. 234, 244, 31 1-2, 347. The House bill was taken up March 2 : Annals of 
Cong, 15 Cong. 2 sess. p. 280. 

^ Statutes at Large, III. 532. 



Sect. 64.] THE SUPPLEMENTARY ACTS. 12 1 

United States and Africa to suppress the slave-trade ; one-half 
the proceeds of the condemned ship were to go to the captors as 
bounty, provided the Africans were safely lodged with a United 
States marshal and the crew with the civil authorities. These 
provisions were seriously marred by a proviso which Butler of 
Louisiana, had inserted, with a "due regard for the interests of 
the State which he represented," viz., that a captured slaver 
must always be returned to the port whence she sailed.^ This, 
of course, secured decided advantages to Southern slave-traders. 
The most radical provision of the act was that which directed 
the President to " make such regulations and arrangements as 
he may deem expedient for the safe keeping, support, and re- 
moval beyond the limits of the United States, of all such negroes, 
mulattoes, or persons of colour, as may be so delivered and 
brought within their jurisdiction ; " and to appoint an agent in 
Africa to receive such Negroes.^ Finally, an appropriation of 
$100,000 was made to enforce the act.^ This act was in some 
measure due to the new colonization movement; and the return 
of Africans recaptured was a distinct recognition of its efforts, 
and the real foundation of Liberia. 

To render this straightforward act effective, it was necessary 
to add but one measure, and that was a penalty commensurate 
with the crime of slave stealing. This was accomplished by the 
Act of May 15, 1820,'* a law which may be regarded as the 

1 Annals of Cong., 15 Cong. 2 sess. p. 1430. This insured the trial of 
slave-traders in a sympathetic slave State, and resulted in the "disappear- 
ance " of many captured Negroes. 

^ Statutes at Large., III. 533. 

8 The first of a long series of appropriations extending to 1869, of which 
a list is given on the next page. The totals are only approximately correct. 
Some statutes may have escaped me, and in the reports of moneys the 
surpluses of previous years are not always clearly distinguishable. 

4 In the first session of the sixteenth Congress, two bills on piracy 
were introduced into the Senate, one of which passed, April 26. In the 
House there was a bill on piracy, and a slave-trade committee reported 
recommending that the slave-trade be piracy. The Senate bill and this bill 
were considered in Committee of the Whole, May 11, and a bill v/as finally 
passed declaring, among other things, the traffic piracy. In the Senate 
there was "some discussion, rather on the form than the substance of these 
amendments," and " they were agreed to without a division " : Senate Journal, 
16 Cong. I sess. pp. 238, 241, 26S, 287, 314, 331, 346, 350, 409, 412, 417, 420, 



122 



ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII 



last of the Missouri Compromise measures. The act originated 
from the various bills on piracy which were introduced early in 



Statutes 


AT Large. 


Date. 


Amount Appropriated. 


VOL. 


PAGE 






III. 


533-4 


March 3, 1819 


$100,000 


" 


764 


" 3, 1823 


50,000 


IV. 


141 


" 14, 1626 


32,COO 


« 


208 


March 2, 1827 


( 36,710 
( 20,000 


C( 


302 


May 24, 1 8 28 


30,000 


« 


354 


March 2, 1829 


16,000 


" 


462 


" 2, 1831 


16,000 


'< 


615 


Feb. 20, 1833 


5,000 


" 


671 


Jan. 24, 1834 


5,000 


V. 


157-8 


March 3, 1837 


ii,4i3-57 


" 


501 


Aug. 4, 1842 


10,543.42 


" 


615 


March 3, 1843 


5,000 


IX. 


96 


Aug. 10, 1846 


25,000 


XL 


90 


iS, 1856 


8,000 


" 


227 


March 3, 1857 


8,000 


" 


404 


" 3> 1859 


75,000 


XII. 


21 


May 26, i860 


40,000 


" 


132 


Feb. 19, 1861 


900,000 


" 


219 


March 2, i86i 


900,000 


" 


639 


Feb. 4, 1863 


17,000 


XIII. 


424 


Jan. 24, 1865 


17,000 


XIV. 


226 


July 25, 1866 


17,000 


" 


415 


Feb. 28, 1867 


17,000 


XV. 


58 


March 30, 1S68 


12,500 


*' 


321 


March 3, 1869 


12,500 



Total, 50 years jj2. 386,666.99 

Minus surpluses re-appropriated (approximate) . 48,666.99 ? 

$2,338,000 
Cost of squadron, 1843-5S, @ $384,500 per year 

{House Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. IX. No. 73) 5.767,500 

Returning slaves on " Wildfire " {Statutes at Large, 

XIL41) 250,000 

Approximate cost of squadron, 1858-66, probably 

not less than $500,000 per year 4,000,000 ? 

Approximate money cost of suppressing the 

slave-trade $12,355,500? 

Cf. Kendall's Report: Senate Doc, 21 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i, pp. 21 1-8; 
A7ner. State Papers, Naval, III. No. 429 E.; also Reports of the Secre- 
taries of the Navy from 1819 to i860. 

422, 424, 425 ; Ho7ise Journal, 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 113, 280, 453, 454, 494. 
51S, 520, 522, 537; AnJials of Cong., 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 693-4, 2231, 2236-7, 
etc. The debates were not reported. 



Sect. 65.] ENFORCEMENT OF THE ACTS. 123 

the sixteenth Congress. The House bill, in spite of opposition, 
was amended so as to include slave-trading under piracy, and 
passed. The Senate agreed without a division. This law pro- 
vided that direct participation in the slave-trade should be 
piracy, punishable with death. ^ 

65. Enforcement of the Supplementary Acts, 1818-1825. A 
somewhat more sincere and determined effort to enforce the 
slave-trade laws now followed; and yet it is a significant fact 
that not until Lincoln's administration did a slave-trader suffer 
.death for violating the laws of the United States.- The partici- 
pation of Americans in the trade continued, declining somewhat 
between 1825 and 1830, and then reviving, until it reached its 
highest activity between 1840 and i860. The development 
of a vast internal slave-trade, and the consequent rise in the 
South of vested interests strongly opposed to slave smuggling, 
led to a falling off in the illicit introduction of Negroes after 
1825, until the fifties; nevertheless, smuggling never entirely 
ceased, and large numbers were thus added to the plantations 
of the Gulf States. 

Monroe had various constitutional scruples as to the execu- 
tion of the Act of 1819; 2 but, as Congress took no action, he 
at last put a fair interpretation on his powers, and appointed 
Samuel Bacon as an agent in Africa to form a settlement for 
recaptured Africans. Gradually the agency thus formed became 
merged with that of the Colonization Society on Cape Mesurado ; 
and from this union Liberia was finally evolved.^ 

Meantime, during the years 181 8 to 1820, the activity of the 

1 Stattites at Large, III. 600-1. This act was in reality a continuation 
of the piracy Act of i8i9,.and was only temporary. The provision was, 
however, continued by several acts, and finally made perpetual by the Act of 
Jan. 30, 1823 : Statutes at Large, III. 510-4, 721. On March 3, 1823, it was 
slightly amended so as to give district courts jurisdiction. 

2 Attorney-General Wirt advised him, October, 18 19, that no part of the 
appropriation could be used to purchase land in Africa or tools for the 
Negroes, or as salary for the agent : Opinions of Attorney s-Gc7ieral, I. 314-7. 
Monroe laid the case before Congress in a special message Dec. 20, 18 19 
(^House Journal, 16 Cong, i sess. p. 57) ; but no action was taken there. 

3 Cf. Kendall's Report, August, 1830: Senate Doc, 21 Cong. 2 sess. I. 
No. I, pp. 2ir-8; also see below, Chapter X. 



124 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

slave-traders was prodigious. General James Tallmadge de- 
clared in the House, February 15, 1819: "Our laws are al- 
ready highly penal against their introduction, and yet, it is a 
well known fact, that about fourteen thousand slaves have been 
brought into our country this last year." ^ In the same year 
Middleton of South Carolina and Wright of Virginia estimated 
illicit introduction at 13,000 and 15,000 respectively.^ Judge 
Story, in charging a jury, took occasion to say: "We have 
but too many proofs from unquestionable sources, that it [the 
slave-trade] is still carried on with all the implacable rapacity 
of former times. Avarice has grown more subtle in its evasions, 
and watches and seizes its prey with an appetite quickened 
rather than suppressed by its guilty vigils. American citizens 
are steeped to their very mouths (I can hardly use too bold a 
figure) in this stream of iniquity."^ The following year, 1S20, 
brought some significant statements from various members of 
Congress. Said Smith of South Carolina: "Pharaoh was, for 
his temerity, drowned in the Red Sea, in pursuing them [the 
Israelites] contrary to God's express will; but our Northern 
friends have not been afraid even of that, in their zeal to fur- 
nish the Southern States with Africans. They are better sea- 
men than Pharaoh, and calculate by that means to elude the 
vigilance of Heaven ; which they seem to disregard, if they can 
but elude the violated laws of their country."* As late as 
May he saw little hope of suppressing the traffic.^ Sergeant 
of Pennsylvania declared : " It is notorious that, in spite of 
the utmost vigilance that can be employed, African negroes 
are clandestinely brought in and sold as slaves."^ Plumer of 
New Hampshire stated that " of the unhapp)/ beings, thus in 
violation of all laws transported to our shores, and thrown by 
force into the mass of our black population, scarcely one in a 

^ Speech in the House of Representatives, Feb. 15, 1819, p. 18; published 
in Boston, 1849. 

2 Jay, Inquiry into American Colonization (1838), p. 59, note. 

^ Quoted in Friends' Facts and Observations on the Slave Trade (ed. 
1 841), pp. 7-8. 

* Annals of Cong., 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 270-1. 

s Ibid.., p. 698. ^ Ibid., p. 1207. 



125 



Sect. 65.] ENFORCEMENT OF THE ACTS. 

hundred is ever detected by the officers of the General Govern- 
ment, m a part of the country, where, if vve are to beh'eve the 
statement of Governor Rabun, 'an officer who would perform 
his duty, by attempting to enforce the law [against the slave 
trade] is, by many, considered as an officious meddler, and 
treated with derision and contempt; ' . . . I have been told by 
a gentleman who has attended particularly to this subject, that 
ten thousand slaves were in one year smuggled into the United 
States; and that, even for the last year, we must count the num- 
ber not by hundreds, but by thousands." 1 In 18-1 a com 
mittee of Congress characterized prevailing methods as those 
of the grossest fraud that could be practised to deceive the 
officers of government." ^ Another committee, in 1822, after 
a careful examination of the subject, declare that they -find it 
impossible to measure with precision the effect produced upon 
he American branch of the slave trade by the laws above men- 
tioned, and the seizures under them. They are unable to state 
whether those American merchants, the American capital anJ 
seamen which heretofore aided in this traffic, have abandoned it 
altogether, or have sought shelter under the flags of other 
nations." They then state the suspicious circumstanc^e that w tl 
he disappearance of the American flag from the traffic. '< the 
trade, notwithstanding, increases annually, under the fla^s of 
other nations/ They complain of the spasmodic efforts oT the 

on'thrAf "^ '"^ ''■'' ''' '"^ ^"^^^^ States cruiser arrived 

on the A ncan coast in March, 1820, and remained a "few 
weeks ; that since then four others had in two years made five 
visits in all; but " since the middle of last November, the com- 
mencement of the healthy season on that coast, no vessel has 
been, nor as your committee is informed, is, under orders for 
tha service." 3 The United States African agent, Ayres re- 
ported in 1823: "I was informed by an American officer 'who 
had been on the coast in 1820, that he had boarded 20 Ameri- 
can vessels in one morning, lying in the port of Gallinas, and 

1 A»fia/s of Cong., 16 Cong, i sess. p. 1433 
^Referring particularly to the case of the slaver " Plattsbure " Cf 
House Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. g-y p 10 ^'^"sDurg. Cf. 

« House Reports, 17 Cong, r sess. II. No'. 92, p! 2. The President had in 



126 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

fitted for the reception of slaves. It is a lamentable fact, that 
most of the harbours, between the Senegal and the line, were 
visited by an equal number of American vessels, and for the 
sole purpose of carrying away slaves. Although for some years 
the coast had been occasionally visited by our cruizers, their 
short stay and seldom appearance had made but slight im- 
pression on those traders, rendered hardy by repetition of crime, 
and avaricious by excessive gain. They were enabled by a 
regular system to gain intelligence of any cruizer being on the 
coast." ^ 

Even such spasmodic efforts bore abundant fruit, and indi- 
cated what vigorous measures might have accomplished. Be- 
tween May, 1818, and November, 1821, nearly six hundred 
Africans were recaptured and eleven American slavers taken.^ 
Such measures gradually changed the character of the trade, 
and opened the international phase of the question. American 
slavers cleared for foreign ports, there took a foreign flag and 
papers, and then sailed boldly past American cruisers, although 
their real cTiaracter was often well known. More stringent clear- 
ance laws and consular instructions might have greatly reduced 
this practice ; but nothing was ever done, and gradually the laws 
became in large measure powerless to deal with the bulk of 
the illicit trade. In 1820, September 16, a British officer, in his 
official report, declares that, in spite of United States laws, 
" American vessels, American subjects, and American capital, 
are unquestionably engaged in the trade, though under other 

his message spoken in exhilarating tones of the success of the government 
in suppressing the trade. The House Committee appointed in pursuance of 
this passage made the above report. Their conclusions are confirmed by 
British reports: Parliamentary Papers, 1822, Vol. XXII., Slave Trade, 
Further Papers, III. p. 44. So, too, in 1823, Ashmun, the African agent, 
reports that thousands of slaves are being abducted. 

^ Ayrestothe Secretary of the Navy, Feb. 24, 1823; reprinted '\n Friends'' 
View of the African Slave-Trade (1824), p. 31. 

2 House Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, pp. 5-6. The slavers were 
the " Ramirez," " Erdymion," " Esperanza," " Plattsburg," " Science," 
"Alexander," "Eugene," " Mathilde," "Daphne," "Eliza," and "La 
Pensde." In these 573 Africans were taken. The naval officers were greatly 
handicapped by the size of the ships, etc. (cf. Friends'' View, etc., pp. 33- 
41). They nevertheless acted with great zeal. 



Sect. 65-] ENFORCEMENT OF THE ACTS. 1 27 

colours and in disguise." ^ The United States ship " Cyane " at 
one time reported ten captures within a few days, adding: 
" Although they are evidently owned by Americans, they are so 
completely covered by Spanish papers that it is impossible to 
condemn them." ^ The governor of Sierra Leone reported 
the rivers Nunez and Pongas full of renegade European and 
American slave-traders ; ^ the trade was said to be carried on 
"to an extent that almost staggers belief."'^ Down to 1824 
or 1825, reports from all quarters prove this activity in slave- 
trading. 

The execution of the laws within the country exhibits grave 
defects and even criminal negligence. Attorney-General Wirt 
finds it necessary to assure collectors, in 181 9, that " it is against 
public policy to dispense with prosecutions for violation of the 
law to prohibit the Slave trade." ^ One district attorney writes: 
" It appears to be almost impossible to enforce the laws of 
the United States against offenders after the negroes have been 
landed in the state." ^ Again, it is asserted that "when ves- 
sels engaged in the slave trade have been detained by the 
American cruizers, and sent into the slave-holding states, there 
appears at once a difficulty in securing the freedom to these 
captives which the laws of the United States have decreed for 
them." ^ In some cases, one man would smuggle in the Afri- 
cans and hide them in the woods; then his partner would "rob" 
him, and so all trace be lost.^ Perhaps 350 Africans were 
officially reported as brought in contrary to law from 181 8 to 
1820: the absurdity of this figure is apparent.^ A circular 

1 Parliatnentmy Papers, 1821, Vol. XXIII., Slave Trade, Further Papers, 
A, p. 76. The names and description of a dozen or more American slavers 
are given: Ibid., pp. 18-21. 

2 House Reports, 17 Cong, r sess. II. No. 92, pp. 15-20. 

3 House Doc, 18 Cong, i sess. VI. No. 119, p. 13. 

* Parliamentary Papers, 1823, Vol, XVIII., Slave Trade, Further 
Papers, A, pp. lo-ii. 

5 Opinions of Attorneys-General, V. 717. 

« R. W. Habersham to the Secretary of the Navy, August, 1821 ; reprinted 
in Friends^ View, etc., p. 47. 

■^ Ibid., p. 42. 8 /^/^.^ p. 42- 

^ Cf. above, p. 124. 



128 A TTEMP TED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

letter to the marshals, in 182 1, brought reports of only a few 
well-known cases, like that of the " General Ramirez ; " the 
marshal of Louisiana had '* no information." ^ 

There appears to be little positive evidence of a large illicit 
importation into the country for a decade after 1825. It is hardly 
possible, however, considering the activity in the trade, that 
slaves were not largely imported. Indeed, when we note how 
the laws were continually broken in other respects, absence of 
evidence of petty smuggling becomes presumptive evidence that 
collusive or tacit understanding of officers and citizens allowed 
the trade to some extent.^ Finally, it must be noted that during 
all this time scarcely a man suffered for participating in the 
trade, beyond the loss of the Africans and, more rarely, of his 
ship. Red-handed slavers, caught in the act and convicted, were 
too often, like La Coste of South Carolina, the subjects of ex- 
ecutive clemency.^ In certain cases there were those who even 

^ Friends' Vietu, etc., p. 42. 

2 A few accounts of captures here and there would make the matter less 
suspicious ; these, liowever, do not occur. How large this suspected illicit 
traffic was, it is of course impossible to say; there is no reason why it may 
not have reached many hundreds per year. 

3 Cf. editorial in Niks' s Register^ XXII. 114. Cf. also the following 
instances of pardons : — 

President Jefferson: March i, 1808, Phillip M. Topham, convicted 
for "carrying on an illegal slave-trade" (pardoned twice). Pardons and 
Remissions, I. 146, 148-9. 

President Madison: July 29, 1809, fifteen vessels arrived at New 
Orleans from Cuba, with 666 white persons and 683 negroes. Every pen- 
alty incurred under the Act of 1807 was remitted. (Note: "Several other 
pardons of this nature were granted.") Ibid., I. 179. 

Nov. 8, 1809, John Hopkins and Lewis Le Roy, convicted for importing 
a slave. Ibid., I. 184-5. -;>,>. -^>>. 

Feb. 12, 1 8 10, William Sewall, convicted for importing slaves. Ibid., I. 
194, 235, 240. 

May 5, 1812, William Babbit, convicted for importing slaves. Ibid., I. 248. 

President Monroe : June 11, 1822, Thomas Shields, convicted for 
bringing slaves into New Orleans. Ibid., IV. 15. 

Aug. 24, 1822, J. F. Smith, sentenced to five years' imprisonment and 
$3000 fine ; served twenty-five months and was then pardoned. Ibid., IV. 22. 

July 23, 1823, certain parties liable to penalties for introducing slaves 
into Alabama. Ibid., IV. S'^. 



Sect. 65-] ENFORCEMENT OF THE ACTS. 1 29 

had the effrontery to ask Congress to cancel their own laws. 
For instance, in 1819 a Venezuelan privateer, secretly fitted 
out and manned by Americans in Baltimore, succeeded in 
capturing several American, Portuguese, and Spanish slavers, 
and appropriating the slaves ; being finally wrecked herself, she 
transferred her crew and slaves to one of her prizes, the " Ante- 
lope," which was eventually captured by a United States cruiser 
and the 280 Africans sent to Georgia. After much litigation, 
the United States Supreme Court ordered those captured from 
Spaniards to be surrendered, and the others to be returned to 
Africa. By some mysterious process, only 139 Africans now 
remained, lOO of whom were sent to Africa. The Spanish 
claimants of the remaining thirty-nine sold them to a certain 
Mr. Wilde, who gave bond to transport them out of the coun- 
try. Finally, in December, 1827, there came an innocent peti- 
tion to Congress to cancel this bond} A bill to that eff"ect 
passed and was approved. May 2, 1828,^ and in consequence 
these Africans remained as slaves in Georgia. 

On the whole, it is plain that, although in the period from 
1807 to 1820 Congress laid down broad lines of legislation suf- 
ficient, save in some details, to suppress the African slave trade 
to America, yet the execution of these laws was criminally lax. 

Aug. 15, 1823, owners of schooner "Mary," convicted of importing 
slaves. Pardons and Rb'//iissio)ts., IV. 66. 

President J. Q. Adams^ March 4, 1826, Robert Perry; his ship was 
forfeited for slave-trading. Ibid., IV. 140. 

Jan. 17, 1827, Jesse Perry; forfeited ship, and was convicted for intro- 
ducing slaves. /(^/<r/., IV. 158. . 

Feb. 13, 1827, Zenas Winaton -; "incurred penalties for slave-trading. 
Ibid., IV. 161. The four following cases are similar to that of Winston: — 

Feb. 24, 1827, John Tucker and William Motion. Ibid., IV. 162. 

March 25, 1828, Joseph Badger. Ibid., IV. 192. 

Feb. 19, 1829, L. R. Wallace. Ibid., IV. 215. 

President Jackson,: Five cases. Ibid., IV. 225, 270, 301, 393, 440. 

The above cases were taken from manuscript copies of the Washington 
records, made by Mr. W. C. Endicott, Jr., and kindly loaned me. 

^ See Senate Journal, 20 Cong, i sess. pp. 60, 66, 340, 341, 343, 348, 
352, 355; House Jounial, 20 Cong, i sess. pp. 59, ^6, 123, 134, 156, 169,173, 
279, 634, 641, 646, 647, 688, 692. 

^ Statutes at Large, VI. 376. 

9 



130 ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION. [Chap. VIII. 

Moreover, by the facility with which slavers could disguise their 
identity, it was possible for them to escape even a vigorous en- 
forcement of our laws. This situation could properly be met 
only by energetic and sincere international co-operation. The 
next chapter will review efforts directed toward this end.^ 

1 Among interesting minor proceedings in this period were two Senate 
bills to register slaves so as to prevent illegal importation. They were both 
dropped in the House ; a House proposition to the same effect also came 
to nothing: Senate Journal, 15 Cong, i sess. pp. 147, 152, 157, 165, 170, 
188, 201, 203, 232, 237; IS Cong. 2 sess. pp. 63, 74, T], 202, 207, 285, 291, 
297; House Journal, 15 Cong, i sess. p. 332; 15 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 303, 305, 
316; 16 Cong. I sess. p. 150. Another proposition was contained in the 
Meigs resolution presented to the House, Feb. 5, 1820, which proposed to 
devote the public lands to the suppression of the slave-trade. This was 
ruled out of order. It was presented again and laid on the table in 1821 : 
House Journal^ 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 196, 200, 227; 16 Cong. 2 sess. p. 238. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE INTERNATIONAL STATUS OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. 

1 783-1862. 

66. The Rise of the Movement against the Slave-Trade, 1 788-1 807. 

67. Concerted Action of the Powers, 1 783-1814. 

68. Action of the Powers from 1814 to 1820. 

69. The Struggle for an International Right of Search, 1 820-1 840. 

70. Negotiations of 1823-1825. 

71. The Attitude of the United States and the State of the Slave-Trade. 

72. The Quintuple Treaty, 1 839-1842. 

73. Final Concerted Measures, 1 842-1 S62. 

66. The Else of the Movement against the Slave-Trade, 178&- 
1807. At the beginning of the nineteenth century England 
held 800,000 slaves in her colonies; France, 250,000; Den- 
mark, 27,000; Spain and Portugal, 600,000; Holland, 50,000; 
Sweden, 600; there were also about 2,000,000 slaves in Brazil, 
and about 900,000 in the United States.^ This was the power- 
ful basis of the demand for the slave-trade ; and against the 
economic forces which these four and a half millions of en- 
forced laborers represented, the battle for freedom had to be 
fought. 

Denmark first responded to the denunciatory cries of the 
eighteenth century against slavery and the slave-trade. In 1792, 
by royal order, this traffic was prohibited in the Danish posses- 
sions after 1802. The principles of the French Revolution 
logically called for the extinction of the slave system by France. 
This was, however, accomplished more precipitately than the 
Convention anticipated ; and in a whirl of enthusiasm engen- 
dered by the appearance of the Dominican deputies, slavery and 
the slave-trade were abolished in all French colonies February 4, 

^ Cf. Augustin Cochin, in Lalor, Cyclopcedia, III. 723. 



132 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

1794.1 This abolition was short-lived ; for at the command of 
the First Consul slavery and the slave-trade were restored in 
An X (1799).^ The trade was finally abolished by Napoleon 
during the Hundred Days by a decree, March 29, 18 15, which 
briefly declared : " A dater de la publication du present Decret, 
la Traite des Noirs est abolie." ^ The Treaty of Paris eventually 
confirmed this law.'* 

In England, the united efforts of Sharpe, Clarkson, and 
Wilberforce early began to arouse public opinion by means of 
agitation and pamphlet literature. May 21, 1788, Sir William 
Dolben moved a bill regulating the trade, which passed in July 
and was the last English measure countenancing the traffic.^ 
The report of the Privy Council on the subject in 1789*^ pre- 
cipitated the long struggle. On motion of Pitt, in 1788, the 
House had resolved to take up at the next session the question 
of the abolition of the trade.^ It was, accordingly, called up by 
Wilberforce, and a remarkable parliamentary battle ensued, 
which lasted continuously until 1805. The Grenville-Fox min- 

^ By a law of Aug. 11, 1792, the encouragement formerly given to the 
trade was stopped. Cf. Choix de rapports^ opinions et discoiirs prononcds 
a la tribune nationale depuis 1789 (Paris, 1S21), XIV. 425 ; quoted in 
Cochin, The Results of Emancipation (Booth's translation, 1S63), PP- 33» 

35-S. 

2 Cochin, The Res7ilts of Emancipation (Booth's translation, 1863), pp. 

42-7. 

3 British and Foreign State Papers, 181 5-6, p. 196. 

^ Ibid., pp. 195-9, 292-3; 1S16-7, p. 755. It was eventually confirmed 
by royal ordinance, and the law of April 15, 181 8. 

^ Statute 28 George III., ch. 54. Cf. Statute 29 Geo?ge III, ch. 66. 

® Various petitions had come in praying for an abolition of the slave- 
trade; and by an order in Council, Feb. 11, 1788, a committee of the Privy 
Council was ordered to take evidence on the subject. This committee pre- 
sented an eIai)orate report in 1789. See published Report, London, 1789. 

"> For the history of the Parliamentary struggle, cf. Clarkson's and Copley's 
histories. The movement was checked in the House of Commons in 1789, 
1790, and 1 791. In 1792 the House of Commons resolved to abolish the 
trade in 1796. The Lords postponed the matter to take evidence. A bill 
to prohibit the foreign slave-trade was lost in 1793, passed the next session, 
and was lost in the House of Lords. In 1795, 1796, 179S, and 1799 repeated 
attempts to abolish the trade were defeated. The matter then rested until 
1804, when the battle was renewed with more success. 



Sect. 6;.] CONCERTED ACTION OF THE POWERS. 133 

istry now espoused the cause. This ministry first prohibited the 
trade with such colonies as England had acquired by conquest 
during the Napoleonic wars; then, in 1806, they prohibited the 
foreign slave-trade; and finally, March 25, 1807, enacted the 
total abolition of the traffic.^ 

67. Concerted Action of the Powers, 1783-1814. During the 
peace negotiations between the United States and Great Britain 
in 1783, it was proposed by Jay, in June, that there be a proviso 
inserted as follows : " Provided that the subjects of his Britanniq 
Majesty shall not have any right or claim under the convention, 
to carry or import, into the said States any slaves from any part 
of the world ; it being the intention of the said States entirely 
to prohibit the importation thereof." ^ Fox promptly replied : 
" If that be their policy, it nev^er can be competent to us to dis- 
pute with them their own regulations." " No mention of this 
was, however, made in the final treaty, probably because it was 
thought unnecessary. 

In the proposed treaty of 1806, signed at London December 
31, Article 24 provided that " The high contracting parties 
engage to communicate to each other, without delay, all such 
laws as have been or shall be hereafter enacted by their respec- 
tive Legislatures, as also all measures which shall have been 
taken for the abolition or limitation of the African slave trade; 
and they further agree to use their best endeavors to procure 
the co-operation of other Powers for the final and complete 
abolition of a trade so repugnant to the principles of justice and 
humanity." ■* 

This marks the beginning of a long series of treaties between 
England and other powers looking toward the prohibition of 
the traffic by international agreement. During the years 1810- 
1S14 she signed treaties relating to the subject with Portugal, 
Denmark, and Sweden.^ May 30, 1814, an additional article 

1 Statute 46 George III., ch. 52, 1 19; 47 George III, sess. I. ch. 36. 
'^ Sparks, Diplomatic Correspondetice, X. 154. 

8 Fox to Hartley, June 10, 1783; quoted in Bancroft, History of the 
Comtitutio7i of the United States, I, 61. 

* Ainer. State Papers, Foreign, III. No. 214, p. 151. 

6 British and Foreign State Papers, 18 15-6, pp. ^ZQ>, 937 (quotation). 



/ 



134 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

to the Treaty of Paris, between France and Great Britain, 
engaged these powers to endeavor to induce the approaching 
Congress at Vienna " to decree the aboHtion of the Slavic Trade, 
so that the said Trade shall cease universally, as it shall cease 
definitively, under any circumstances, on the part of the French 
Government, in the course of 5 years; and that during the said 
period no Slave Merchant shall import or sell Slaves, except in 
the Colonies of the State of which he is a Subject."^ In ad- 
dition to this, the next day a circular letter was despatched 
by Castlereagh to Austria, Russia, and Prussia, expressing 
the hope " that the Powers of Europe, when restoring Peace 
to Europe, with one common interest, will crow^n this great 
work by interposing their benign offices in favour of those 
Regions of the Globe, which yet continue to be desolated by 
this unnatural and inhuman traffic." " IMcantime additional 
treaties were secured: in 1814 by royal decree Nctlicrlands 
agreed to abolish the trade; ^ Spain was induced by her neces- 
sities to restrain her trade to her own colonies, and to endeavor 
to prevent the fraudulent use of her flag by foreigners ;* and 
in 1815 Portugal agreed to abolish the slave-trade north of the 
equator.'^ 

6Z. Action of the Powers from 1814 to 1820. At the Congress of 
Vienna, which assembled late in 1 8 14, Castlereagh was inde- 
fatigable in his endeavors to secure the aTDolitr6ri''of the trade. 
France and Spain, however, refused to yield farther than they 
had already done, and the other powers hesitated to go to the 
lengths he recommended. Nevertheless, he secured the institu- 
tion of annual conferences on the matter, and a declaration by 
the Congress strongly condemning the trade and declaring that 
"the public voice in all civilized countries was raised to demand 
its suppression as soon as possible," and that, while the definitive 

1 British and Foreign State Papers, 1 81 5-6. pp. 890-1. 

2 Ibid., p. 8S7. Russia, Austria, and Prussia returned favorable replies ; 
Ibid., pp. 8S7-8. 

8 Ibid., p. 889. 

* She desired a loan, which England made on this condition : Ibid., 
pp. 92T-2. 

6 Ibid., pp. 937-9. Certain financial arrangements secured this 
concession. 



Sect. 68.] ACTION OF THE POWERS, 1814-1820. 1 35 

period of termination would be left to subsequent negotiation, 
the sovereigns would not consider their work done until the 
trade was entirely suppressed.^ 

In the Treaty of Ghent, between Great Britain and the United 
States, ratified February 17, 1815, Article 10, proposed by Great 
Britain, declared that, " Whereas the traffic in slaves is irrecon- 
cilable with the principles of humanity and justice," the two 
countries agreed to use their best endeavors in abolishing the 
trade.^ The final overthrow of Napoleon was marked by a 
second declaration of the powers, who, " desiring to give effect 
to the measures on which they deliberated at the Congress of 
Vienna, relative to the complete and universal abolition of the 
Slave Trade, and having, each in their respective Dominions, 
prohibited without restriction their Colonies and Subjects from 
taking any part whatever in this Traffic, engage to renew con- 
jointly their efforts, with the view of securing final success to 
those principles which they proclaimed in the Declaration of 
the 4th February, 18 15, and of concerting, without loss of time, 
through their Ministers at the Courts of London and of Paris, 
the most effectual measures for the entire and definitive abolition 
of a Commerce so odious, and so strongly condemned by the 
laws of religion and of nature." ^ 

Treaties further restricting the trade continued to be made 
by Great Britain : Spain abolished the trade north of the 
equator in 18 17,* and promised entire abolition in 1820; Spain, 
Portugal, and Holland also granted a mutual limited Right of 
Search to England, and joined in establishing mixed courts.^ 
The effort, however, to secure a general declaration of the powers 
urging, if not compelling, the abolition of the trade in 1820, as 
well as the attempt to secure a qualified international Right of 

1 British and Foreign State Papers, 181 5-6, pp. 939-75. 

2 Afner. State Papers, Foreign, III. No. 271, pp. 735-48; U. S. Treaties 
and Conventions (ed. 1S89), p. 405. 

3 This was inserted in the Treaty of Paris, Nov. 20, 181 5 : British and 
Foreign State Papers, 181 5-6, p. 292. 

* Ihid., 1S16-7, pp. 33-74 (English version, 1823-4, p. 702 ff.). 
6 Cf. Ibid., 1 81 7-8, p. 125 ff. 



136 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

Visit, failed, although both propositions were strongly urged by 
E.n^land at the Conference of i8i8.^ 

69. The Struggle for an International Right of Search, 1820-1840. 
Whatever England's motives were, it is certain that only a lim- 
ited international Right of Visit on the high seas could suppress 
or greatly limit the slave-trade. Her diplomacy was therefore 
henceforth directed to this end. On the other hand, the mari- 
time supremacy of England, so successfully asserted during the 
Napoleonic wars, would, in case a Right of Search were granted, 
virtually make England the policem.an of the seas ; and if nations 
like the United States had already, under present conditions, 
had just cause to complain of violations by England of their 
rights on the seas, might not any extension of rights by inter- 
national agreement be dangerous ? It was such considerations 
that for many years brought the powers to a dead-lock in their 
efforts to suppress the slave-trade. 

At first it looked as if England might attempt, by judicial 
decisions in her own courts, to seize even foreign slavers.^ After 
the war, however, her courts disavowed such action,^ and the 
right was sought for by treaty stipulation. Castlereagh took 
early opportunity to approach the United States on the matter, 
suggesting to Minister Rush, June 20, 18 18, a mutual but strictly 
limited Right of Search.* Rush was ordered to give him assur- 
ances of the solicitude of the United States to suppress the 
traffic, but to state that the concessions asked for appeared of a 

1 Tliis was the first meeting of the London ministers of the powers accord- 
ing to agreement; they assembled Dec. 4, 1817, and finally called a meeting 
of plenipotentiaries on the question of suppression at Aix-la-Chapelle, begin- 
ning Oct. 24, 1818. Among those present were Metternich, Richelieu, Wel- 
lington, Castlereagh, Hardenberg, Bernstorff, Nesselrode, and Capodistrias. 
Castlereagh made two propositions: i. That the five powers join in urging 
Portugal and Brazil to abolish the trade May 20, 1820 ; 2. That the powers 
adopt the principle of a mutual qualified Right of Search. Cf. British and 
Foreign State Papers, 1818-9, pp. 21-88; Amer. State Papers, Foreign, V. 
No. 346, pp. 1 13-122. 

- For cases, see i Acton, 240, the " Amedie," and i Dodson, 81, the 
"Fortuna;" quoted in U. S. Reports, 10 Wheaton, 66. 

^ Cf. the case of the French ship " Le Louis " : 2 Dodson, 23S ; and also 
the case of the " San Juan Nepomuceno " : I Haggard, 267. 

* British and Foreign State Papers, 1819-20, pp. 375-9; also pp. 220-2. 



Sect. 69] IXTERNATIONAL RIGHT OF SEARCH. 1 37 

character not adaptable to our institutions. Negotiations were 
then transferred to Washington; and the new Ikitish minister, 
Mr. Stratford Canning, approached Adams with full instructions 
in December, 1820.^ 

Meantime, it had become clear to many in the United States 
that the individual efforts of States could never suppress or 
even limit the trade without systematic co-operation. In 18 17 
a committee of the House had urged the opening of negotia- 
tions looking toward such international co-operation,^ and a 
Senate motion to the same effect had caused long debate.'^ 
In 1820 and 1S21 two House committee reports, one of which 
recommended the granting of a Right of Search, were adopted 
by the House, but failed in the Senate.* Adams, notwithstand- 
ing this, saw constitutional objections to the plan proposed by 
Canning, and wrote to him, December 30: " A Compact, giv- 
ing the power to the Naval Officers of one Nation to search the 
Merchant Vessels of another for Offenders and offences against 
the Laws of the latter, backed by a further power to seize and 
carry into a Foreign Port, and there subject to the decision of 
a Tribunal composed of at least one half Foreigners, irresponsi- 
ble to the Supreme Corrective tribunal of this Union, and not 
amenable to the controul of impeachment for official mis- 
demeanors, was an investment of power, over the persons, 
property and reputation of the Citizens of this Country, not 
only unwarranted by any delegation of Sovereign Power to 
the National Government, but so adverse to the elementary 
principles and indispensable securities of individual rights, . . . 
that not even the most unqualified approbation of the ends . . . 
could justify the transgression." He then suggested co-opera- 

^ British and Foreign State Papers, 1820-21, pp. 395-6. 

2 House Doc., 14 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. "]■]. 

8 Annals of Cong., 15 Cong, i sess. pp. 71, 73-7S, 94-109. The motion 
was opposed largely by Southern members, and passed by a vote of 
17 to 16. 

* One was reported, May 9, 1820, by Mercer's committee, and passed May 
12 : House Journal, 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 497, 518, 520, 526 ; Annals of Cong., 
16 Cong. I sess. pp. 697-9. A similar resolution passed the House next 
session, and a committee reported in favor of the Right of Search : Ibid., 
16 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 1064-71. Cf. Ibid., pp. 476, 743, S65, 1469. 



138 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

tion of the fleets on the coast of Africa, a proposal which was 
promptly accepted.^ 

The slave-trade was again a subject of international consid- 
eration at the Congress of Verona in 1822. Austria, France, 
Great Britain, Russia, arid Prussia were represented. The Eng- 
lish delegates declared that, although only Portugal and Brazil 
allowed the trade, yet the traffic was at that moment carried on 
to a greater extent than ever before. They said that in seven 
months of the year 1821 no less than 21,000 slaves were ab- 
ducted, and three hundred and fifty-two vessels entered African 
ports north of the equator. " It is obvious," said they, " that 
this crime is committed in contravention of the Laws of every 
Country of Europe, and of America, excepting only of one, 
and that it requires something more than the ordinary operation 
of Law to prevent it." England therefore recommended : — 

1. That each country denounce the trade as piracy, with a 
view of founding upon the aggregate of such separate declara- 
tions a general law to be incorporated in the Law of Nations. 

2. A withdrawing of the flags of the Powers from persons 
not natives of these States, who engage in the traffic under the 
flags of these States. 

3. A refusal to admit to their domains the produce of the 
colonies of States allowing the trade, a measure which would 
apply to Portugal and Brazil alone. 

These proposals were not accepted. Austria would agree to 
the first two only; France refused to denounce the trade as 
piracy; and Prussia was non-committal. The utmost that could 
be gained Vv'as another denunciation of the trade couched in 
general terms.^ 

70. Negotiations of 1823-1825. England did not, however, 
lose hope of gaining some concession from the United States. 
Another House committee had, in 1822, reported that the only 
method of suppressing the trade was by granting a Right of 
Search.^ The House agreed, February 28, 1823, to request the 
President to enter into negotiations with the maritime powers of 

^ British and Foreign State Papers, 1820-21, pp. 397-400. 

2 Ibid.^i 1822-3, PP- 94-110. 

* House Reports., 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92. 



Sect. 70.] NEGOTIATIONS OF 1823-1825. 139 

Europe to denounce the slave-trade as piracy; an amendment 
** that we agree to a qualified right of search " was, however, 
lost.i Meantime, the English minister was continually pressing 
the matter upon Adams, who proposed in turn to denounce the 
trade as piracy. Canning agreed to this, but only on condition 
that it be piracy under the Law of Nations and not merely by 
statute law. Such an agreement, he said, would involve a Right 
of Search for its enforcement; he proposed strictly to limit and 
define this right, to allow captured ships to be tried in their own 
courts, and not to commit the United States in any way to the 
question of the belligerent Right of Search. Adams finally sent 
a draft of a proposed treaty to England, and agreed to recognize 
the slave-trafiic "as piracy under the law of nations, namely: 
that, although seizable by the officers and authorities of every 
nation, they should be triable only by the tribunals of the 
country of the slave trading vessel." ^ 

Rush presented this projct to the government in January, 
1824. England agreed to all the points insisted on by the 
United States; viz., that she herself should denounce the trade 
as piracy; that slavers should be tried in their own country; 
that the captor should be laid under the most effective respon- 
sibility for his conduct; and that vessels under convoy of a ship 
of war of their own country should be exempt from search. In 
addition, England demanded that citizens of either country cap- 
tured under the flag of a third power should be sent home for 
trial, and that citizens of either country chartering vessels of a 
third country should come under these stipulations.^ 

This convention was laid before the Senate April 30, 1824, 
but was not acted upon until May 21, when it was so amended 
as to make it terminable at six months' notice. The same day, 
President Monroe, " apprehending, from the delay in the deci- 
sion, that some difBculty exists," sent a special message to the 
Senate, giving at length the reasons for signing the treaty, and 

1 Hotese Jountal, 17 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 212, 280; A finals of Cong., 17 
Cong. 2 sess. pp. 922, I147-1155. 

- British and Foreign State Papers, 1823-4, pp. 409-21 ; 1S24-5, pp. 
828-47 : Awcr. State Papers, Foreign, V. No. 371, pp. 333-7- 

8 Ibid. 



140 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

saying that " should this Convention be adopted, there is every 
reason to believe, that it will be the commencement of a system 
destined to accomplish the entire Abolition of the Slave Trade." 
It was, however, a time of great political pot-boiling, and conse- 
quently an unfortunate occasion to ask senators to settle any 
great question. A systematic attack, led by Johnson of Louisi- 
ana, was made on all the vital provisions of the treaty : the waters 
of America were excepted from its application, and those of the 
West Indies barely escaped exception; the provision which, 
perhaps, aimed the deadliest blow at American- slave-trade in- 
terests was likewise struck out ; namely, the application of the 
Right of Search to citizens chartering the vessels of a third 
nation.^ 

The convention thus mutilated was not signed by England, 
who demanded as the least concession the application of the 
Right of Search to American waters. Meantime the United 
States had invited nearly all nations to denounce the trade as 
piracy; and the President, the Secretary of the Navy, and a 
House committee had urgently favored the granting of the Right 
of Search. The bad faith of Congress, however, in the matter 
of the Colombian treaty broke off for a time further negotia- 
tions with England."'^ 

^ A7!ier. State Papers, Foreign, V. No. 374, p. 344 ff., No. 379, pp. 360-2. 

2 House Reports, 18 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 70 ; Ainer. State Papers, Foreign, 
V. No. 379, pp. 364-5, No. 414, p. 783, etc. Among the nations invited by 
the United States to co-operate in suppressing the trade was the United 
States of Colombia. Mr. Anderson, our minister, expressed " the certain 
belief that the Repubhc of Colombia will not permit herself to be behind 
any Government in the civilized world in the adoption of energetic measures 
for the suppression of this disgraceful traffic " : Ibid., No. 407, p. 729. The 
little republic replied courteously ; and, as a projei for a treaty, Mr. Ander- 
son offered the proposed English treaty of 1824, including the Senate 
amendments. Nevertheless, the treaty thus agreed to was summarily 
rejected by the Senate, March 9, 1825 : Ibid., p. 735. Another result of this 
general invitation of the United States was a proposal by Colombia that the 
slave-trade and the status of Hayti be among the subjects for discussion at 
the Panama Congress. As a result of this, a Senate committee recommended 
that the United States take no part in the Congress. This report was 
finally disagreed to by a vote of 19 to 24: Ibid., No. 423, pp. 837, 860, 
876, 882. 



Sect. 71.] ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES. I41 

7 1 , The Attitude of the United States and the State of the Slave- 
Trade. In 1S24 the Right of Search was established between 
England and Sweden, and in 1826 Brazil promised to abolish 
the trade in three years.^ In 1831 the cause was greatly ad- 
vanced by the signing of a treaty between Great Britain and 
France, granting mutually a geographically limited Right of 
Search.^ This led, in the next few years, to similar treaties with 
Denmark, Sardinia,''^ the Hanse towns,'* and Naples/'^ Such 
measures put the trade more and more in the hands of Ameri- 
cans, and it began greatly to increase. Mercer sought repeat- 
edly in the House to have negotiations reopened with England, 
but without success.^ Indeed, the chances of success were 
now for many years imperilled by the recurrence of deliberate 
search of American vessels by the British." In the majority of 
cases the vessels proved to be slavers, and some of them fraud- 
ulently flew the American flag; nevertheless, their molestation 
by British cruisers created much feeling, and hindered all steps 
toward an understanding: the United States was loath to have 
her criminal negligence in enforcing her own laws thus exposed 
by foreigners. Other international questions connected with 
the trade also strained the relations of the two countries : three 
difl'erent vessels engaged in the domestic slave-trade, driven by 
stress of weather, or, in the " Creole " case, captured by Negroes 
on board, landed slaves in British possessions; England freed 
them, and refused to pay for such as were landed after emanci- 
pation had been proclaimed in the West Indies.^ The case 

^ British and Foreign State Papers, 1S23-4, and 1S26-7. Brazil abol- 
ished the trade in 1830. 

2 This treaty was further defined in 1833 : Ibid.^ 1S30-1, p. 641 ff. ; 1S32-3, 
p. 286 ff. 

3 Ibid., 1S33-4, pp. 218 ff., 1059 ff. 

4 Ibid., 1837-8, p. 268 ff. 6 /^/^.^ 1838-9, p. 792 ff. 

8 Viz., Feb. 28, 1825; April 7, 1830; Feb. 16, 1S31 ; March 3, 1831. The 
last resolution passed the House : House Journal, 21 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 426-8. 

' Cf. House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. Tn^o. 115, pp. 35-6, etc. ; House Re- 
ports, 27 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 283, pp. 730-55, etc. 

8 These were the celebrated cases of the " Encomium," " Enterprize," 
and "Comet." Cf. Setiate Doc, 24 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 174; 25 Cong. 
3 sess. III. No. 216. Cf. also case of the "Creole": Ibid., 27 Cong. 2 sess. 
II.-III. Nos. 51, 137. 



142 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

of the slaver " L'Amistad " also raised difficulties with Spain. 
This Spanish vessel, after the Negroes on board had mutinied 
and killed their owners, was seized by a United States vessel 
and brought into port for adjudication. The court, however, 
freed the Negroes, on the ground that under Spanish law they 
were not legally slaves ; and although the Senate repeatedly 
tried to indemnify the owners, the project did not succeed.^ 

Such proceedings well illustrate the new tendency of the pro- 
slavery party to neglect the enforcement of the slave-trade laws, 
in a frantic defence of the remotest ramparts of slave property. 
Consequently, when, after the treaty of 1831, France and Eng- 
land joined in urging the accession of the United States to it, 
the British minister was at last compelled to inform Palmerston, 
December, 1833, that "the Executive at Washington appears to 
shrink from bringing forward, in any shape, a question, upon 
which depends the completion of their former object — the utter 
and universal Abolition of the Slave Trade — from an apprehen- 
sion of alarming the Southern States." ^ Great Britain now 
offered to sign the proposed treaty of 1824 as amended ; but 
even this Forsyth refused, and stated that the United States had 
determined not to become " a party of any Convention on the 
subject of the Slave Trade." ^ 

Estimates as to the extent of the slave-trade agree that the 
traffic to North and South America in 1820 was considerable, 
certainly not much less than 40,000 slaves annually. From 
that time to about 1825 it declined somewhat, but afterward 

1 Senate Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 179; Senate Exec. Doc., 31 Cong. 
2 sess. III. No. 29; 32 Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 19; Senate Reports, 31 Cong. 
2 sess. No. 301; 32 Cong, i sess. I. No. F58; 35 Cong, i sess. I. No. 36; 
Hoiise Doc, 26 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 185 ; 27 Cong. 3 sess. V. No. 191 ; 

28 Cong. I sess. IV. No. 83 ; House Exec. Doc, 32 Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 
20; House Reports, 26 Cong. 2 sess. No. 51 ; 28 Cong, i sess. II. No. 426; 

29 Cong. I sess. IV. No. 753; also Decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court, 
15 Peters, 518. Cf. Drake, Revelatiotis of a Slave Smuggler, p. 98. 

2 British and Foreign State Papers, 1834-5, p. 136. 

8 Ibid., pp. 135-47. Great Britain made treaties meanwhile with 
Hayti, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentine Confederation, Mexico, 
Texas, etc. Portugal prohibited the slave-trade in 1S36, except between 
her African colonies. Cf. Ibid., from 1838 to 1841. 



Sect. 72.] THE QUINTUPLE TREATY. I43 

increased enormously, so that by 1837 the American importa- 
tion was estimated as high as 200,000 Negroes annually. The 
total abolition of the African trade by American countries then 
brought the traffic down to perhaps 30,000 in 1842. A large 
and rapid increase of illicit traffic followed; so that by 1S47 
the importation amounted to nearly 100,000 annually. One 
province of Brazil is said to have received 173,000 in the }X>ars 
1 846-1 849. In the decade 1 850-1860 this activity in slave-trad- 
ing continued, and reached very large proportions. 

The traffic thus carried on floated under the flags of France, - 
Spain, and Portugal, until about 1830; from 1830 to 1840 it 
began gradually to assume the United States flag; by 1845, ^ 
large part of the trade was under the stars and stripes; by 
1850 fully one-half the trade, and in the decade, 1850-1860 
nearly all the traffic, found this flag its best protection.-^ 

72. The Uuintuple Treaty, 1839-1842. In 1839 Pope Gregory 
XVI. stigmatized the slave-trade " as utterly unworthy of the 
Christian name ; " and at the same time, although proscribed 
by the laws of every civilized State, the trade was flourishing 
with pristine vigor. Great advantage was given the traffic by 
the fact that the United States, for two decades after the abor- 
tive attempt of 1824, refused to co-operate with the rest of the 
civilized world, and allowed her flag to shelter and protect the 
slave-trade. If a fully equipped slaver sailed from New York, 
Havana, Rio Janeiro, or Liverpool, she had only to hoist the 

1 These estimates are from the following sources : British and Foreign 
State Papers, 1822-3, pp. 94-110; Parliamentary Papers, 1823, XVIII., 
Slave Trade, Further Papers, A., pp. lo-ii ; [838-9, XLIX., Slave Trade, 
Class A, Further Series, pp, 115, 119, 121 ; House Doc, 19 Cong, i sess. I. 
No. I, p. 93; 20 Cong. I sess. III. No. 99; 26 Cong, i sess. VI. No. 211 ; 
House Exec. Doc., 31 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i, p. 193; House Reports, 21 
Cong. I sess. III. No. 348; Senate Doc, 28 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 217; 31 
Cong. I sess. XIV, No. 66; 31 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 6; Amer. State Papers, 
A'ai'al, I. No. 249; Buxton, Tlie African Slave Trade afid its Remedy, 
pp. 44-59 ; Friends' Facts aiid Observations on the Slave Trade (ed. 1841) ; 
Friends' Exposition of the Slave Trade, 1840-50; Annual Reports of the 
Americaji and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. 

The annexed table gives the dates of the abolition of the slave-trade by 
the various nations : — 



144 



INTERNATIONAL STATUS. 



[Chap. IX. 



stars and stripes in order to proceed unmolested on her pirati- 
cal voyage ; for there was seldom a United States cruiser to be 
met with, and there were, on the other hand, diplomats at 
Washington so jealous of the honor of the flag that they would 
prostitute it to crime rather than allow an English or a French 
cruiser in any way to interfere. Without doubt, the contention 
of the United States as to England's pretensions to a Right of 
Visit was technically correct. Nevertheless, it was clear that if 
the slave-trade was to be suppressed, each nation must either 
zealously keep her flag from fraudulent use, or, as a labor-saving 
device, depute to others this duty for limited places and under 
special circumstances. A failure of any one nation to do one of 
these two things meant that the efforts of all other nations were 
to be fruitless. The United States had invited the world to join 
her in denouncing the slave-trade as piracy; yet, when such a 
pirate was waylaid by an English vessel, the United States com- 
plained or demanded reparation. The only answer which this 
country for years returned to the long-continued exposures of 
American slave-traders and of the fraudulent use of the American 
flag, was a recital of cases where Great Britain had gone beyond 









Arrangements for 


Date. 


Slave-trade Abolished by 


Right of Search Treaty with Great 
Britain, made by 


Joint Cruising 
with Great Brit- 
ain, made by 


1802 


Denmark. 






1807 


Great Britain; United 
States. 






1S13 


Sweden. 






1814 


Netherlands. 






1815 


Portugal (north of the 
equator). 






1817 


Spain (north of the 
equator). 


Portugal; Spain. 




1818 


France. 


Netherlands. 




1820 


Spain. 






1S24 




Sweden. 




1829 


Brazil (?). 






1S30 


Portugal. 






1S3I-33 




France. 




i<*^33-39 




Denmark, Hanse Towns, etc. 




1841 




Quintuple Treaty (Austria, 




1842 




Russia, Prussia). 


United States. 


1844 




Texas. 




1845 




Belgium. 


France. 


1862 




United States. 





Sect. 72-] ^"^^^ QUINTUPLE TREATY. 145 

her legal powers in her attempt to suppress the slave-trade.^ In 
the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Secretary of 
State Forsyth declared, in 1840, that the duty of the United 
States in the matter of the slave-trade " has been faithfully per- 
formed, and if the traffic still exists as a disgrace to humanity, 
it is to be imputed to nations with whom Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment has formed and maintained the most intimate connexions, 
and to whose Governments Great Britain has paid for the right 
of active intervention in order to its complete extirpation." ^ So 
zealous was Stevenson, our minister to England, in denying the 
Right of Search, that he boldly informed Palmcrston, in 1841, 
" that there is no shadow of pretence for excusing, much less 
justifying, the exercise of any such right. That it is wholly im- 
material, whether the vessels be equipped for, or actually en- 
gaged in slave traffic or not, and consequently the right to search 
or detain even slave vessels, must be confined to the ships or 
vessels of those nations with whom it may have treaties on the 
subject." 3 Palmerston courteously replied that he could not 
think that the United States seriously intended to make its 
flag a refuge for slave-traders ; ^ and Aberdeen pertinently 
declared : " Now, it can scarcely be maintained by Mr. Steven- 
son that Great Britain should be bound to permit her own 
subjects, with British vessels and British capital, to carry on, 
before the eyes of British officers, this detestable traffic in 
human beings, which the law has declared to be piracy, merely 
because they had the audacity to commit an additional offence 
by fraudulently usurping the American flag." ^ Thus the dis- 
pute, even after the advent of Webster, went on for a time, 
involving itself in metaphysical subtleties, and apparently lead- 
ing no nearer to an understanding.*' 

In 1838 a fourth conference of the powers for the considera- 
tion of the slave-trade took place at London. It was attended 

1 Cf. British and Foreign State Papers, from 1836 to 1842. 

2 Ibid.^ 1839-40, p. 940. 

3 House Doc, 27 Cong, i sess. No. 34, pp. 5-6. 

* Senate Doc, 29 Cong. I sess. VIII. No. 377, p. 56. 

5 Ibid., p. 72. 

8 Ibid., pp. 133-40, etc 

10 



146 INTERNA TIONAL STA TUS. [Chap. IX. 

by representatives of England, France, Russia, Prussia, and 
Austria. England laid the projct of a treaty before them, to 
which all but France assented. This so-called Quintuple 
Treaty, signed December 20, 1841, denounced the slave-trade 
as piracy, and declared that " the High Contracting Parties 
agree by common consent, that those of their ships of war 
which shall be provided with special warrants and orders . . . 
may search every merchant-vessel belonging to any one of the 
High Contracting Parties which shall, on reasonable grounds, 
be suspected of being engaged in the traffic in slaves." All 
captured slavers were to be sent to their own countries for 
trial.i 

While the ratification of this treaty was pending, the United 
States minister to France, Lewis Cass, addressed an official 
note to Guizot at the French foreign office, protesting against 
the institution of an international Right of Search, and rather 
grandiloquently warning the powers against the use of force to 
accomplish their ends.^ This extraordinary epistle, issued on the 
minister's own responsibility, brought a reply denying that the 
creation of any " new principle of international law, whereby 
the vessels even of those powers which have not participated 
in the arrangement should be subjected to the right of search," 
was ever intended, and affirming that no such extraordinary 
interpretation could be deduced from the Convention. More- 
over, M. Guizot hoped that the United States, by agreeing to 
this treaty, would " aid, by its most sincere endeavors, in the 
definitive abolition of the trade." ^ Cass's theatrical protest 
was, consciously or unconsciously, the manifesto of that grow- 
ing class in the United States who wanted no further measures 
taken for the suppression of the slave-trade; toward that, as 
toward the institution of slavery, this party favored a policy 
of strict laisscz-fairc. 

73. Final Concerted Measures, 1842-1862. The Treaty of 
Washington, in 1842, made the first effective compromise in the 
matter and broke the unpleasant dead-lock, by substituting joint 

1 British and Fore ii^n State Papers, 1841-2, p. 269 ff. 

^ See below. Appendix B. 

' Senate Doc, 29 Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 377, p. 201. 



Sect. 73.] FINAL CONCERTED MEASURES. I47 

cruising by English and American squadrons for the proposed 
grant of a Right of Search. In submitting this treaty, Tyler 
said : " The treaty which I now submit to you proposes no 
alteration, mitigation, or modification of the rules of the law 
of nations. It provides simply that each of the two Govern- 
ments shall maintain on the coast of Africa a sufficient squad- 
ron to enforce separately and respectively the laws, rights, 
and obligations of the two countries for the suppression of the 
slave trade." ^ This provision was a part of the treaty to settle 
the boundary disputes with England. In the Senate, Benton 
moved to strike out this article ; but the attempt was defeated 
by a vote of 37 to 12, and the treaty was ratified. ^ 

This stipulation of the treaty of 1842 was never properly 
carried out by the United States for any length of time.^ Con- 
sequently the same difficulties as to search and visit by English 
vessels continued to recur. Cases like the following were fre- 
quent. The " Illinois," of Gloucester, Massachusetts, while lying 
at Whydah, Africa, was boarded by a British officer, but having 
American papers was unmolested. Three days later she hoisted 
Spanish colors and sailed away with a cargo of slaves. Next 
morning she fell in with another British vessel and hoisted 
American colors ; the British ship had then no right to molest 
her; but the captain of the slaver feared that she would, and 
therefore ran his vessel aground, slaves and all. The senior 
English officer reported that " had Lieutenant Cumberland 
brought to and boarded the ' Illinois,' notwithstanding the 
American colors which she hoisted, . . . the American master 
of the ' Illinois ' . . . would have complained to his Government 
of the detention of his vessel."'^ Again, a vessel which had 
been boarded by British' officers and found with American flag 

^ Senate Exec. /oti?'nal, VI. 123. 

2 U. S. Treaties and Conventions (ed. 18S9), pp. 436-7. For the debates 
in the Senate, see Congressional Globe, 27 Cong. 3 sess. Appendix. Cass re- 
signed on account of the acceptance of this treaty without a distinct denial 
of the Right of Search, claiming that this compromised his position in 
France. Cf. Senate Doc, 27 Cong. 3 sess. II., IV. Nos. 52, 223 ; 29 Cong. 
I sess. VIII. No. 377. 

^ Cf. below, Chapter X. 

* Senate Exec. Doc, 28 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 150, p. 72. 



148 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

and papers was, a little later, captured under the Spanish flag 
with four hundred and thirty slaves. She had in the interim 
complained to the United States government of the boarding.^ 

Meanwhile, England continued to urge the granting of a Right 
of Search, claiming that the stand of the United States really 
amounted to the wholesale protection of pirates under her 
fla"-.2 The United States answered by alleging that even the 
Treaty of 1842 had been misconstrued by England,^ whereupon 
there was much warm debate in Congress, and several attempts 
were made to abrogate the slave-trade article of the treaty."* 
The pro-slavery party had become more and more suspicious 
of England's motives, since they had seen her abolition of the 
slave-trade blossom into abolition of the system itself, and they 
seized every opportunity to prevent co-operation with her. At 
the same time, European interest in the question showed some 
signs of weakening, and no decided action was taken. In 1845 
France changed her Right of Search stipulations of 1833 to one 
for joint cruising,^ while the Germanic Federation,'^ Portugal,^ and 
Chili denounced the trade as piracy. In 1844 Texas granted 
the Right of Search to England,^ and in 1845 Belgium signed 
the Quintuple Treaty.^*^ 

Discussion between England and the United States was re- 
vived when Cass held the State portfolio, and, strange to say, 
the author of " Cass's Protest " went farther than any of his pre- 
decessors in acknowledging the justice of England's demands. 

1 Senate Exec. Doc, 28 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 150, p. 77. 

2 House Doc., 27 Cong. 3 sess. V. No. 192, p. 4. Cf. British and For- 
eign State Papers, 1842-3, p. 708 ff. 

' 3 Hotise Journal, 27 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 431, 485-8. Cf. House Doc, 27 
Cong. 3 sess. V. No. 192. 

4 Cf. below, Chapter X. 

5 With a fleet of 26 vessels, reduced to 12 in 1849 : British and Foreign 
State Papers, 1844-5, p. 4 ff- ; 1849-50, P- 480. 

« Ibid., 1 850-1, p. 953- 

' Portugal renewed her Right of Search treaty in 1842 : Ibid., 1841-2, 
p. 527 ff.; 1842-3, p. 450- 

8 Ibid., 1843-4, p. 316. 

9 Ibid., 1844-5, P- 592- There already existed some such privileges 
between England and Texas. 

10 Ibid., 1847-8, p. 397 ff. 



Sect. 73.] FINAL CONCERTED MEASURES. 149 

Said he, in 1859: " If The United States maintained that, by 
carrying their flag at her masthead, any vessel became thereby 
entitled to the immunity which belongs to American vessels, 
they might well be reproached with assuming a position which 
would go far towards shielding crimes upon the ocean from 
punishment; but they advance no such pretension, while they 
concede that, if in the honest examination of a vessel sailing 
under American colours, but accompanied by strongly-marked 
suspicious circumstances, a mistake is made, and she is found to 
be entitled to the flag she bears, but no injury is committed, and 
the conduct of the boarding party is irreproachable, no Govern- 
ment would be likely to make a case thus exceptional in its 
character a subject of serious reclamation." ^ While admitting 
this and expressing a desire to co-operate in the suppression of 
the slave-trade, Cass nevertheless steadily refused all further 
overtures toward a mutual Right of Search. 

The increase of the slave-traffic was so great in the decade 
1850-1860 that Lord John Russell proposed to the governments 
of the United States, France, Spain, Portugal, and Brazil, that 
they instruct their ministers to meet at London in May or June, 
i860, to consider measures for the final abolition of the trade. 
He stated : " It is ascertained, by repeated instances, that the 
practice is for vessels to sail under the American flag. If the 
flag is rightly assumed, and the papers correct, no British cruizer 
can touch them. If no slaves are on board, even though the 
equipment, the fittings, the water-casks, and other circumstances 
prove that the ship is on a Slave Trade venture, no American 
cruizer can touch them."^ Continued representations of this 
kind were made to the paralyzed United States government ; 
indeed, the slave-trade of the world seemed now to float securely 
under her flag. Nevertheless, Cass refused even to participate in 
the proposed conference, and later refused to accede to a pro- 
posal for joint cruising ofl" the coast of Cuba.^ Great Britain 
offered to relieve the United States of any embarrassment by 
receiving all captured Africans into the West Indies ; but Presi- 

^ British attd Foreign State Papers, 1858-9, pp. 1121, 11 29. 

2 Ibid., 1859-60, pp. 902-3. 

8 House Exec. Doc., 36 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 7. 



150 INTERNATIONAL STATUS. [Chap. IX. 

dent Buchanan " could not contemplate any such arrangement," 
and obstinately refused to increase the suppressing squadron.^ 

On the outbreak of the Civil War, the Lincoln administration, 
through Secretary Seward, immediately expressed a willingness 
to do all in its power to suppress the slave-trade.^ Accordingly, 
June 7, 1862, a treaty was signed with Great Britain granting a 
mutual limited Right of Search, and establishing mixed courts for 
the trial of offenders at the Cape of Good Hope, Sierra Leone, 
and New York.^ The efforts of a half-century of diplomacy 
were finally crowned; Seward wrote to Adams, " Had such a 
treaty been made in 1808, there would now have been no 
sedition here."^ 

1 House Exec. Doc., 36 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 7. 

2 Senate Exec. Doc, 37 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 57. 

8 Senate Exec. Journal, XII. 230-1, 240, 254, 256, 391, 400, 403 ; Diplo- 
matic Correspondence, 1862, pp. 141, 158; U. S. Treaties and Conventions 
(ed. 1889), pp. 454-9. 

* Diplomatic Correspondcfice, 1S62, pp. 64-5. This treaty was revised in 
1863. The mixed court in the West Indies had, by February, 1864, liber- 
ated 95,206 Africans: Senate Exec. Doc, 38 Cong, i sess. No. 56, p. 24. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. 1820-1850, 

74. The Economic Revolution. 

75. The Attitude of the South. 

76. The Attitude of the North and Congress. 

77. Imperfect Application of the Laws. 

78. Responsibility of the Government. 

79. Activity of the Slave-Trade. 

74. The Economic Revolution. The history of slavery and the 
slave-trade after 1820 must be read in the light of the industrial 
revolution through which the civilized world passed in the first 
half of the nineteenth century. Between the years 1775 and 
1825 occurred economic events and changes of the highest 
importance and widest influence. Though all branches of in- 
dustry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, " if we 
consider single industries, cotton manufacture has, during the 
nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic 
advances." ^ This fact is easily explained by the remarkable 
series of inventions that revolutionized this industry between 
1738 and 1830, including Arkwright's, Watt's, Compton's, and 
Cartwright's epoch-making contrivances.^ The effect which 

1 Beer, Geschichte des Welthatidels im ig^'^'' Jahr/nindcri, II. 67. 

2 A list of these inventions most graphically illustrates this advance : — 

1738? John Jay, fly-shuttle. 

John Wyatt, spinning by rollers. 
1748, Lewis Paul, carding-machine. 
1760, Robert Kay, drop-box. 
1769, Richard Arkwright, water-frame and throstle. 

James Watt, steam-engine. 
1772, James Lees, improvements on carding-machine. 
1775, Richard Arkwright, series of combinations. 
1779, Samuel Compton, mule. 



152 RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

these inventions had on the manufacture of cotton goods is best 
illustrated by the fact that in England, the chief cotton mar- 
ket of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose steadily 
from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in 
1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860.^ Very early, therefore, came the 
query whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative 
experiments on the rich, broad fields of the Southern United 
States, together with the indispensable invention of Whitney's 
cotton-gin, soon answered this question: a new economic future 
was opened up to this land, and immediately the whole South 
began to extend its cotton culture, and more and more to throw 
its whole energy into this one staple. 

Here it was that the fatal mistake of compromising with 
slavery in the beginning, and of the policy of laissez-faire pur- 
sued thereafter, became painfully manifest; for, instead now of a 
healthy, normal, economic development along proper industrial 
lines, we have the abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor large- 
farming system, which, before it was realized, had so intertwined 
itself with and braced itself upon the economic forces of an 
industrial age, that a vast and terrible civil war was necessary 
to displace it. The tendencies to a patriarchal serfdom, recog- 
nizable in the age of Washington and Jefferson, began slowly 
but surely to disappear; and in the second quarter of the cen- 
tury Southern slavery was irresistibly changing from a family 
institution to an industrial system. 

The development of Southern slavery has heretofore been 
viewed so exclusively from the ethical and social standpoint 
that we are apt to forget its close and indissoluble connection 
with the world's cotton market. Beginning with 1S20, a little 
after the close of the Napoleonic wars, when the industry of 

1785, Edmund Cartwright, power-loom. 

1803-4, Radcliffe and Johnson, dressing-machine. 

1 81 7, Roberts, fly-frame. 

1 81 8, William Eaton, self-acting frame. 
1825-30, Roberts, improvements on mule. 

Cf. Baines, History of the Cotton Matitfactiire, pp. 1 16-231; Encyclo- 
pcedia Britannica, 9th ed., article " Cotton." 

1 Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture, p. 215. A bale weighed 
from 375 lbs. to 400 lbs. 



Sect. 74-] THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION. 1 53 

cotton manufacture had begun its modern development and the 
South had definitely assumed her position as chief producer of 
raw cotton, we find the average price of cotton per pound, '^\d. 
From this time until 1845 the price steadily fell, until in the latter 
year it reached ^d. ; the only exception to this fall was in the 
years 1 832-1839, when, among other things, a strong increase in 
the English demand, together with an attempt of the young slave 
power to " corner " the market, sent the price up as high as i \d. 
The demand for cotton goods soon outran a crop which Mc-- 
Cullough had pronounced "prodigious," and after 1845 the 
price started on a steady rise, which, except for the checks suf- 
fered during the continental revolutions and the Crimean War, 
continued until 1860.^ The steady increase in the production of 
cotton explains the fall in price down to 1845. In 1822 the crop 
was a half-million bales; in 1831, a million ; in 1838, a million and 
a half; and in 1840-1S43, two million. By this time the world's 
consumption of cotton goods began to increase so rapidly that, 
in spite of the increase in Southern crops, the price kept rising. 
Three million bales were gathered in 1852, three and a half million 
in 1856, and the remarkable crop of five million bales in 1860.^ 

Here we have data to explain largely the economic develop- 
ment of the South. By 1822 the large-plantation slave system 
had gained footing; in 1S38-1839 it was able to show its power 
in the cotton " corner; " by the end of the next decade it had 
not only gained a solid economic foundation, but it had built a 
closed oligarchy with a political policy. The changes in price 
during the next few years drove out of competition many sur- 
vivors of the small-farming free-labor system, and put the slave 
regime in position to dictate the policy of the nation. The 
zenith of the system and the first inevitable signs of decay 
came in the years 1 850-1 860, when the rising price of cotton 
threw the whole economic energy of the South into its cultiva- 
tion, leading to a terrible consumption of soil and slaves, to a 
great increase in the size of plantations, and to increasing power 
and effrontery on the part of the slave barons. Finally, when a 

^ The prices cited are from Newmarch and Tooke, and refer to the Lon- 
don market. The average price in 1855-60 was about "]({. 
2 From United States census reports. 



154 JilSE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

rising moral crusade conjoined with threatened economic dis- 
aster, the oligarchy, encouraged by the state of the cotton market, 
risked all on a political coiip-iVctat, which failed in the war of 
1861-1865.^ 

75. The Attitude of the South. The attitude of the South'^ 
toward the slave-trade changed pari passu with this develop- 
ment of the cotton trade. From 1808 to 1820 the South half 
wished to get rid of a troublesome and abnormal institution, 
and yet saw no way to do so. The fear of insurrection and of 
the further spread of the disagreeable system led her to consent 
to the partial prohibition of the trade by severe national enact- 
ments. Nevertheless, she had in the matter no settled policy : 
she refused to support vigorously the execution of the laws she 
had helped to make, and at the same time she acknowledged the 
theoretical necessity of these laws. After 1820, however, there 
came a gradual change. The South found herself supplied with 
a body of slave laborers, whose number had been augmented by 
large illicit importations, with an abundance of rich land, and 
with all other natural facilities for raising a crop which was in 
large demand and peculiarly adapted to slave labor. The in- 
creasing crop caused a new demand for slaves, and an inter- 
state slave-trafific arose between the Border and the Gulf States, 
which turned the former into slave-breeding districts, and 
bound them to the slave States by ties of strong economic 
interest. 

As the cotton crop continued to increase, this source of sup- 
ply became inadequate, especially as the theory of land and 
slave consumption broke down former ethical and prudential 
bounds. It was, for example, found cheaper to work a slave to 
death in a few years, and buy a new one, than to care for him 
in sickness and old age; so, too, it was easier to despoil rich, 
new land in a few years of intensive culture, and move on to 
the Southwest, than to fertilize and conserve the soil.^ Conse- 
quently, there early came a demand for land and slaves greater 
than the country could supply. The demand for land showed 
itself in the annexation of Texas, the conquest of Mexico, and 

1 Cf. United States census reports ; and Olmsted, The Cotton Kingdom. 

2 Cf. Ibid. 



Sect. 76.] ATTITUDE OF NORTH AND CONGRESS. 1 55 

the movement toward the acquisition of Cuba. The demand 
for slaves was manifested in the illicit traffic that noticeably in- 
creased about 1835, and reached large proportions by i860. 
It was also seen in a disposition to attack the government for 
stigmatizing the trade as criminal,^ then in a -disinclination 
to take any measures which would have rendered our repress- 
ive laws effective ; and finally in such articulate declarations 
by prominent men as this: "Experience having settled the 
point, that this Trade cannot be abolished by the 7tse of force, 
and that blockading squadrons serve only to make it more 
profitable and more cruel, I am surprised that the attempt 
is persisted in, unless as it serves as a cloak to some other pur- 
poses. It would be far better than it now is, for the African, if 
the trade was free from all restrictions, and left to the mitiga- 
tion and decay which time and competition would surely bring 
about." ^ 

"j^. The Attitude of the North and Congress. With the North as 
yet unawakened to the great changes taking place in the South, 
and with the attitude of the South thus in process of develop- 
ment, little or no constructive legislation could be expected on 
the subject of the slave-trade. As the divergence in sentiment 
became more and more pronounced, there were various attempts 
at legislation, all of which proved abortive. The pro-slavery 
party attempted, as early as 1826, and again in 1828, to abolish 
the African agency and leave the Africans practically at the 
mercy of the States ; ^ one or two attempts were made to relax 

^ As early as 1836 Calhoun declared that he should ever regret that the 
term " piracy" had been applied to the slave-trade in our laws: Benton, 
Abridgment of Debates, XII. 718. 

2 Governor J. H. Hammond of South Carolina, in Letters to Ctarkson, 
No. I, p. 2. 

8 In 1826 Forsyth of Georgia attempted to have a bill passed abolishing 
the African agency, and providing that the Africans imported be disposed 
of in some way that would entail no expense on the public treasury : House 
Journal, 19 Cong, i sess. p. 258. In 1828 a bill was reported to the 
House to abolish the agency and make the Colonization Society the agents, 
if they would agree to the terms. The bill was so amended as merely to 
appropriate money for suppressing the slave-trade : Ibid., 20 Cong, i sess., 
House Bill No. 190. 



156 RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

the few provisions which restrained the coastwise trade ; ^ and, 
after the treaty of 1842, Benton proposed to stop appropria- 
tions for the African squadron until England defined her 
position on the Right of Search question.^ The anti-slavery 
men presented several bills to amend and strengthen previous 
laws ; ^ they sought, for instance, in vain to regulate the Texan 
trade, through which numbers of slaves indirectly reached the 
United States.* Presidents and consuls earnestly recommended 
legislation to restrict the clearances of vessels bound on slave- 
trading voyages, and to hinder the facility with which slavers 
obtained fraudulent papers.^ Only one such bill succeeded in 
passing the Senate, and that was dropped in the House.^ 

The only legislation of this period was confined to a few 
appropriation bills. Only one of these acts, that of 1823, 
appropriating ^50,000,'' was designed materially to aid in the 
suppression of the trade, all the others relating to expenses 
incurred after violations. After 1823 the appropriations dwin- 
dled, being made at intervals of one, two, and three years, down 
to 1834, when the amount was $5,000. No further appropria- 
tions were made until 1842, when a few thousands above an 
unexpended surplus were appropriated. In 1843 $5,000 were 
given, and finally, in 1846, $25,000 were secured ; butthis was the 
last sum obtainable until 1856.^ Nearly all of these meagre appro- 

1 Ho2ise Journal, 20 Cong, i sess. pp. 121, 135 ; 20 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 58-9, 
84, 215. 

2 Congressional Globe, 27 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 328, 331-6. 

8 Cf. Mercer's bill, House Jonrtial, 21 Cong, i sess. p. 512; also 
Strange's two bills, Senate Jotirnal, 25 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 200, 313; 26 Cong. 
I sess., Sen'ate Bill No. 123. 

4 Senate Journal, 25 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 297-8, 300. 

5 Senate Doc, 28 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 217, p. 19; Senate Exec. Doc, 
31 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 6, pp. 3, 10, etc.; 33 Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 47, 
pp. 5-6 ; 34 Cong. I sess. XV. No. 99, p. 80 ; House Journal, 26 Cong. 
I sess. pp. 1 1 7-8; cf. Ibid., 20 Cong, i sess. p. 650, etc.; 21 Cong. 2 sess. 
p. 194, 27 Cong. I sess. pp. 31, 184; House Doc, 29 Cong, i sess. III. 
No. 43, p. II ; House Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. III. pt. i, No. 5, pp. 7-8. 

6 Senate Journal, 26 Cong, i sess., Senate Bill No. 335; House Journal, 
26 Cong. I sess. pp, 1138, 1228, 1257. 

■^ Statutes at Large, III. 764. 

8 Cf. above, Chapter VIII. p. 122, 



Sect. 76.] ATTITUDE OF NORTH AND CONGRESS. 157 

priations went toward reimbursing Southern plantation owners 
for the care and support of illegally imported Africans, and the 
rest to the maintenance of the African agency. Suspiciously 
large sums were paid for the first purpose, considering the fact 
that such Africans were always worked hard by those to whom 
they were farmed out, and often " disappeared " while in their 
hands. In the accounts we nevertheless find many items like 
that of ;^20,286.98 for the maintenance of Negroes imported on 
the "Ramirez; "1 in 1827, $5,442.22 for the "bounty, sub- 
sistence, clothing, medicine," etc., of fifteen Africans;^ in 1835, 
$3,613 for the support of thirty-eight slaves for two months 
(including a bill of $1,038 for medical attendance).^ 

The African agency suffered many vicissitudes. The first 
agent. Bacon, who set out early in 1820, was authorized by 
President Monroe " to form an establishment on the island of 
Sherbro, or elsewhere on the coast of Africa," and to build 
barracks for three hundred persons. He was, however, warned 
" not to connect your agency with the views or plans of the 
Colonization Society, with which, under the law, the Government 
of the United States has no concern." Bacon soon died, and 
was followed during the next four years by Winn and Ayres ; 
they succeeded in establishing a government agency on Cape 
Mesurado, in conjunction with that of the Colonization Society. 
The agent of that Society, Jehudi Ashmun, became after 1822, 
the virtual head of the colony; he fortified and enlarged it, and 
laid the foundations of an independent community. The suc- 
ceeding government agents came to be merely official repre- 
sentatives of the United States, and the distribution of free 
rations for liberated Africans ceased in 1827. 

Between 1819 and 1830 two hundred and fifty-two recaptured 
Africans were sent to the agency, and $264,710 were expended. 
The property of the government at the agency was valued at 
$18,895. From 1830 to 1840, nearly $20,000 more were ex- 
pended, chiefly for the agents' salaries. About 1840 the ap- 
pointment of an agent ceased, and the colony became gradually 

1 Cf. Report of the Secretary of the Navy^ 1827. 

2 Ibid. 

8 House Reports., 24 Cong \ sess. I. No. 223. 



158 RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

self-supporting and independent. It was proclaimed as the 
Republic of Liberia in 1847.^ 

jj. Imperfect Application of the Laws. In reviewing efforts 
toward the suppression of the slave-trade from 1820 to 1850, it 
must be remembered that nearly every cabinet had a strong, if 
not a predominating, Southern element, and that consequently 
the efforts of the executive were powerfully influenced by the 
changing attitude of the South. Naturally, under such circum- 
stances, the government displayed little activity and no enthusi- 
asm in the work. In 1824 a single vessel of the Gulf squadron 
was occasionally sent to the African coast to return by the route 
usually followed by the slavers ; no wonder that " none of these or 
any other of our public ships have found vessels engaged in the 
slave trade under the flag of the United States, . . . although 
it is known that the trade still exists to a most lamentable extent." ^ 
Indeed, all that an American slaver need do was to run up a 
Spanish or a Portuguese flag, to be absolutely secure from all 
attack or inquiry on the part of United States vessels. Even 
this desultory method of suppression was not regular: in 1826 
" no vessel has been despatched to the coast of Africa for several 
months," 3 and from that time until 1839 this country probably 
had no slave-trade police upon the seas, except in the Gulf of 
Mexico. In 1839 increasing violations led to the sending of two 
fast-sailing vessels to the African coast, and these were kept there 
more or less regularly ; * but even after the signing of the treaty 

1 This account is taken exclusively from government documents : Amer. 
State Papers, Naval, III. Nos. 339, 340, 357, 4^9 E; IV. Nos. 457 R 
(I and 2), 486 H, I, p. i6r and 519 R, 564 P, 5S5 P; Hottse Reports, 19 
Cong. I sess. I. No. 65; House Doc., 19 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 69; 21 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 42-3, 21 1-8; 22 Cong, i sess. I. No. 2, pp. 45, 
272-4; 22 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 48, 229; 23 Cong, i sess. I. No. i, 
pp. 238, 269; 23 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 315, 363; 24 Cong, i sess. I. 
No. 2, pp. 336, 37S; 24 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 450, 506; 25 Cong. 
2 sess. I. No. 3, pp. 771, 850; 26 Cong, i sess. I. No. 2, pp. 534, 612; 26 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 405, 450. It is probable that the agent became 
eventually the United States consul and minister; I cannot however cite 
evidence for this supposition. 

2 Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1824. 

8 Ibid., 1826. ^ Ibid., 1S39. 



Sect. 77.J IMPERFECT APPUCATION OF THE LAWS. 159 

of 1842 the Secretary of the Navy reports: "On the coast of 
Africa we have no squadron. The small appropriation of the 
present year was believed to be scarcely sufficient." ^ Between 
1843 and 1850 the coast squadron varied from two to six vessels, 
with from thirty to ninety-eight guns ; ^ " but the force habitu- 
ally and actively engaged in cruizing on the ground frequented 
by slavers has probably been less by one-fourth, if we consider 
the size of the ships employed and their withdrawal for purposes 
of recreation and health, and the movement of the reliefs, whose 
arrival does not correspond exactly with the departure of the 
vessels whose term of service has expired." ^ The reports of 
the navy show that in only four of the eight years mentioned 
was the fleet, at the time of report, at the stipulated size of 
eighty guns ; and at times it was much below this, even as late 
as 1848, when only two vessels are reported on duty along the 
African coast.* As the commanders themselves acknowledged, 
the squadron was too small and the cruising-ground too large to 
make joint cruising effective.^ 

The same story comes from the Brazil station: "Nothing 
effectual can be done towards stopping the slave trade, as our 
squadron is at present organized," wrote the consul at Rio 
Janeiro in 1847; "when it is considered that the Brazil station 
extends from north of the equator to Cape Horn on this conti- 
nent, and includes a great part of Africa south of the equator, on 
both sides of the Cape of Good Hope, it must be admitted that 
one frigate and one brig is a very insufficient force to protect 
American commerce, and repress the participation in the slave 
trade by our own vessels." ^ In the Gulf of Mexico cruisers 
were stationed most of the time, although even here there were 

^ Report of the Secretajy of the A'avy, 1842. 

"^ British and Foreign State Papers^ 1857-8, p. 1250. 

3 Lord Napier to Secretary of State Cass, Dec. 24, 1857 : British and 
Foreign State Papers., 1857-8, p. 1249. 

^ Parliamentary Papers, 1847-8, Vol. LXIV. No. 133, Papers Relative 
to the Suppression of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa, p. 2. 

^ Report of Perry: Senate Doc.., 28 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 150, p. 118. 

^ Consul Park at Rio Janeiro to Secretary Buchanan, Aug. 20, 1847: 
House Exec. Doc, 30 Cong. 2 sess. VII. No. 61, p. 7. 



l6o RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

at times urgent representations that the scarcity or the absence 
of such vessels gave the illicit trade great license.^ 

Owing to this general negligence of the government, and also to 
its anxiety on the subject of the theoretic Right of Search, many 
officials were kept in a state of chronic deception in regard to 
the trade. The enthusiasm of commanders was dampened by 
the lack of latitude allowed and by the repeated insistence 
in their orders on the non-existence of a Right of Search.^ 
When one commander, realizing that he could not cover the 
trading-track with his fleet, requested English commanders to 
detain suspicious American vessels until one of his vessels came 
up, the government annulled the agreement as soon as it reached 
their ears, rebuked him, and the matter was alluded to in Con- 
gress long after with horror.^ According to the orders of 
cruisers, only slavers with slaves actually on board could be 
seized. Consequently, fully equipped slavers would sail past 
the American fleet, deliberately make all preparations for 
shipping a cargo, then, when the English were not near, " sell " 
the ship to a Spaniard, hoist the Spanish flag, and again sail 
gayly past the American fleet with a cargo of slaves. An 
English commander reported : " The officers of the United 
States' navy are extremely active and zealous in the cause, and 

^ Suppose "an American vessel emplo3^ed to take in negroes at some 
point on this coast. Tliere is no American man-of-war here to obtain 
intelligence. What risk does she run of being searched? But suppose 
that there is a man-of-war in port. What is to secure the master of the 
merchantman against her [the man-of-war's] commander's knowing all 
about his [the merchant-man's] intention, or suspecting it in time to be 
upon him [the merchant-man] before he shall have run a league on his way 
to Texas?" Consul Trist to Commander Spence : House Doc, 27 Cong. 
I sess. No. 34, p. 41. 

2 A typical set of instructions was on the following plan: i. You are 
charged with the protection of legitimate commerce. 2. While the United 
States wishes to suppress the slave-trade, she will not admit a Right of 
Search by foreign vessels. 3. You are to arrest slavers. 4. You are to 
allow in no case an exercise of the Right of Search or any great interrup- 
tion of legitimate commerce. — To Commodore Perry, March 30, 1S43: 
Hottse Exec. Doc., 35 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 104. 

3 House Reports, 27 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 2S3, pp. 765-8. Cf. Benton's 
speeches on the treaty of 1842. 



Sect. 7?'.] RESPOMSIBILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT. l6r 

no fault can be attributed to them, but it is greatly to be 
lamented that this blemish should in so great a degree nullify 
our endeavours." ^ 

'jZ. Responsibility of the Government. Not only did the gov- 
ernment thus negatively favor the slave-trade, but also many 
conscious, positive acts must be attributed to a spirit hostile to 
the proper enforcement of the slave-trade laws. In cases 
of doubt, when the law needed executive interpretation, the 
decision was usually in favor of the looser construction of the 
law; the trade from New Orleans to Mobile was, for instance, 
declared not to be coastwise trade, and consequently, to the joy 
of the Cuban smugglers, was left utterly free and unrestricted.^ 
After the conquest of Mexico, even vessels bound to California, 
by the way of Cape Horn, were allowed to clear coastwise, thus 
giving our flag to " the slave-pirates of the whole world." ^ 
Attorney-General Nelson declared that the selling to a slave- 
trader of an American vessel, to be delivered on the coast of 
Africa, was not aiding or abetting the slave-trade."^ So easy was 
it for slavers to sail that corruption among officials was hinted 
at. " There is certainly a want of proper vigilance at Havana," 
wrote Commander Perry in 1844, " and perhaps at the ports of 
the United States;" and again, in the same year, "I cannot 
but think that the custom-house authorities in the United States 
are not sufficiently rigid in looking after vessels of suspicious 
character." ^ 

In the courts it was still next to impossible to secure the 
punishment of the most notorious slave-trader. In 1847 a con- 
sul writes: "The slave power in this city [i. e., Rio Janeiro] is 
extremely great, and a consul doing his duty needs to be 
supported kindly and effectually at home. In the case of the 

1 Report of Hotliam to Admiralty, April 7, 1847: Parliamentary Papers, 
1847-8, Vol. LXIV. No. 133, Papers Relative to the Suppression of the 
Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa, p. 13. 

2 Opinions of Attorneys-General, III. 512. 

3 Tenth Annual Report of the Amer. and Foreign Anti-Slav. Soc., 
May 7, 1850, p. 149. 

* Opinions of Attorneys-General, IV. 245. 
5 Senate Doc., 28 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 150, pp. 108, 132. 

II 



l62 RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

' Fame,' where the vessel was diverted from the business in- 
tended by her owners and employed in the slave trade — both 
of which offences are punishable with death, if I rightly read 
the laws — I sent home the two mates charged with these 
offences, for trial, the first mate to Norfolk, the second mate to 
Philadelphia. What was done with the first mate I know not. 
In the case of the man sent to Philadelphia, Mr. Commissioner 
Kane states that a clear prima facie case is made out, and then 
holds him to bail in the sum of 07ic thoiisa7id dollars, which 
would be paid by any slave trader in Rio, on the presentation 
of a draft. In all this there is little encouragement for exer- 
tion." ^ Again, the "Perry" in 1850 captured a slaver which 
was about to ship 1,800 slaves. The captain admitted his guilt, 
and was condemned in the United States District Court at New 
York. Nevertheless, he was admitted to bail of $5,000; this 
being afterward reduced to $3,000, he forfeited it and escaped. 
The mate was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary .^ 
Also several slavers sent home to the United States by the 
British, with clear evidence of guilt, escaped condemnation 
through technicalities.^ 

79. Activity of the Slave-Trade, 1820-1850. The enhanced 
price of slaves throughout the American slave market, brought 
about by the new industrial development and the laws against 
the slave-trade, was the irresistible temptation that drew Ameri- 
can capital and enterprise into that traffic. In the United States, 
in spite of the large interstate traffic, the average price of slaves 
rose from about $325 in 1840, to $360 in 1850, and to $500 in 
i860.* Brazil and Cuba offered similar inducements to smug- 
glers, and the American flag was ready to protect such pirates. 
As a result, the American slave-trade finally came to be carried 
on principally by United States capital, in United States ships, 
officered by United States citizens, and under the United States 

Executive reports repeatedly acknowledged this fact. In 

1 House Exec. Doc, 30 Cong. 2 sess. VII. No. 61, p. 18. 

2 Foote, Africa and the American Flag, pp. 286-90. 

3 British and Foreign State Papers, 1839-40, pp. 913-4- 

4 Cf. United States census reports; and Olmsted, Cotton Kingdom. 



Sect. 79-] ACTIVITY OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. 163 

1839 " a careful revision of these laws " is recommended by the 
President, in order that " the integrity and honor of our flag 
may be carefully preserved."^ In June, 1841, the President 
declares : " There is reason to believe that the traffic is on the 
increase," and advocates "vigorous efforts."- His message in 
December of the same year acknowledges : " That the Ameri- 
can flag is grossly abused by the abandoned and profligate of 
other nations is but too probable." ^ The special message of 
1845 explains at length that "it would seem" that a regular 
pohcy of evading the laws is carried on : American vessels with 
the knowledge of the owners are chartered by notorious slave 
dealers in Brazil, aided by English capitalists, with this intent.* 
The message of 1849 " earnestly " invites the attention of Con- 
gress "to an amendment of our existing laws relating to the 
African slave-trade, with a view to the effectual suppression of 
that barbarous traffic. It is not to be denied," continues the 
message, " that this trade is still, in part, carried on by means 
of vessels built in the United States, and owned or navigated 
by some of our citizens." ° Governor Buchanan of Liberia 
reported in 1839: "The chief obstacle to the success of the 
very active measures pursued by the British government for 
the suppression of the slave-trade on the coast, is the American 
flag- Never was the proud banner of freedom so extensively 
used by those pirates upon liberty and humanity, as at this 
season." ^ One well-known American slaver was boarded fifteen 
times and twice taken into port, but always escaped by means 
of her papers." Even American officers report that the Eng- 
lish are doing all they can, but that the American flag pro- 
tects the trade.^ The evidence which literally poured in from 
our consuls and ministers at Brazil adds to the story of the 

1 House Journal, 26 Cong, i sess. p. 118. 

" Ibid., 27 Cong, i sess. pp. 31, 184. 

3 Ibid., 27 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 14, 15, 86, 113. 

■* Senate Journal, 28 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 191, 227. 

5 House Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. III. pt. I. No. 5, p. 7. 

^ Foote, AJrica and the American Flag, p. 152. 

7 Ibid., pp. 152-3. 

8 Ibid., p. 241. 



1 64 RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

guilt of the United States.^ It was proven that the participa- 
tion of United States citizens in the trade was large and sys- 
tematic. One of the most notorious slave merchants of Brazil 
said: "I am worried by the Americans, who insist upon my 
hiring their vessels for slave-trade." ^ Minister Proffit stated, 
in 1844, that the "slave-trade is almost entirely carried on 
under our flag, in American-built vessels."^ So, too, in Cuba: 
the British commissioners affirm that American citizens were 
openly engaged in the traffic; vessels arrived undisguised at 
Havana from the United States, and cleared for Africa as 
slavers after an alleged sale.^ The American consul, Trist, was 
proven to have consciously or unconsciously aided this trade 
by the issuance of blank clearance papers.^ 

The presence of American capital in these enterprises, and 
the connivance of the authorities, were proven in many cases 
and known in scores. In 1837 the English government informed 
the United States that from the papers of a captured slaver it 
appeared that the notorious slave-trading firm, Blanco and Car- 
ballo of Havana, who owned the vessel, had correspondents in 
the United States : " at Baltimore, Messrs. Peter Harmony and 
Co., in New York, Robert Barry, Esq." ^ The slaver " Martha " of 
New York, captured by the " Perry, " contained among her papers 
curious revelations of the guilt of persons in America who were 
little suspected.'^ The slaver " Prova," which was allowed to lie 
in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and refit, was after- 

^ Cf. e.g. House Doc, 28 Cong. 2 sess. IV. pt. I. No. 148; 29 Cong. 
I sess. III. No. 43 ; House Exec. Doc, 30 Cong. 2 sess. VII. No. 61 ; Senate 
Exec. Doc, 30 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 28; 31 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 6; 33 
Cong. I sess. VIII. No. 47. 

2 Foote, Africa and the American Flag, p. 218. 

3 Ibid., p. 221. 

* Palmerston to Stevenson : Ho7ise Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 1 1 5, p. 5. 
In 1836 five such slavers were known to have cleared; in 1837, eleven; in 
1838, nineteen; and in 1839, twenty-three: Ibid., pp. 220-1. 

^ Parliamentary Papers, 1839, ^ol- XLIX., Slave Trade, class A, 
Further Series, pp. 58-9 ; class B, Further Series, p. no; class D, Further 
Series, p. 25. Trist pleaded ignorance of the law : Trist to Forsyth, House 
Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115. 

6 House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115. 

' Foote, Africa and the American Flag, p. 290. 



Sect. 79-] ACTIVITY OF THE SLAVE-TIRADE. 165 

wards captured with two hundred and twenty-five slaves on 
board.i Xhg real reason that prevented many belligerent Con- 
gressmen from pressing certain search claims against England 
lay in the fact that the unjustifiable detentions had unfortunately 
revealed so much American guilt that it was deemed wiser to 
let the matter end in talk. For instance, in 1S50 Congress 
demanded information as to illegal searches, and President Fill- 
more's report showed the uncomfortable fact that, of the ten 
American ships wrongly detained by English men-of-war, nine 
were proven red-handed slavers.^ 

The consul at Havana reported, in 1 836, that whole cargoes 
of slaves fresh from Africa were being daily shipped to Texas 
in American vessels, that 1,000 had been sent within a few 
months, that the rate was increasing, and that many of these 
slaves "can scarcely fail to find their way into the United 
States." Moreover, the consul acknowledged that ships fre- 
quently cleared for the United States in ballast, taking on a 
cargo at some secret point.^' When with these facts we con- 
sider the law facilitating " recovery" of slaves from Texas,* the 
repeated refusals to regulate the Texan trade, and the shelving 
of a proposed congressional investigation into these matters,^ 
conjecture becomes a practical certainty. 'It was estimated in 
1838 that 15,000 Africans were annually taken to Texas, and 
"there are even grounds for suspicion that there are other 
places . . . where slaves are introduced." ^ Between 1847 and 
1853 the slave smuggler Drake had a slave depot in the Gulf, 
where sometimes as many as 1,600 Negroes were on hand, and 

J Ho2(se Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 121, 163-6. 

2 Senate Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. XIV. No. 66. 

8 Trist to Forsyth: Hoiise Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115. "The 
business of supplying the United States with Africans from this island is 
one that must necessarily exist," because " slaves are a hundred per cent, 
or more, higher in the United States than in Cuba," and this profit "is a 
temptation which it is not in human nature as modified by American insti- 
tutions to withstand " : Ibid. 

^ Statutes at Large, V. 674. 

^ Cf. above, p. 156, note 4. 

« Buxton, The African Slave Trade ajid its Remedy, pp. 44-5. Cf . 2^ 
Repo7-t of the London African Soc, p. 22. 



1 66 RISE OF THE COTTON KINGDOM. [Chap. X. 

the owners were continually importing and shipping. " The joint- 
stock company," writes this smuggler, "was a very extensive one, 
and connected with leading American and Spanish mercantile 
houses. Our island ^ was visited almost weekly, by agents from 
Cuba, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and New 
Orleans. . . . The seasoned and instructed slaves were taken 
to Texas, or Florida, overland, and to Cuba, in sailing-boats. 
As no squad contained more than half a dozen, no difficulty 
was found in posting them to the United States, without dis- 
covery, and generally without suspicion. . . . The Bay Island 
plantation sent ventures weekly to the Florida Keys. Slaves 
were taken into the great American swamps, and there kept till 
wanted for the market. Hundreds were sold as captured run- 
aways from the Florida wilderness. We had agents in every 
slave State ; and our coasters were built in Maine, and came out 
with lumber. I could tell curious stories . . . of this business 
of smuggling Bozal negroes into the United States. It is growing 
more profitable every year, and if you should hang all the Yankee 
merchants engaged in it, hundreds would fill their places."^ In- 
herent probability and concurrent testimony confirm the sub- 
stantial truth of such confessions. For instance, one traveller 
discovers on a Southern plantation Negroes who can speak no 
English.^ The careful reports of the Quakers " apprehend that 
many [slaves] are also introduced into the United States."^ 
Governor Mathew of the Bahama Islands reports that " in more 
than one instance, Bahama vessels with coloured crews have 
been purposely wrecked on the coast of Florida, and the crews 
forcibly sold." This was brought to the notice of the United 
States authorities, but the district attorney of Florida could 
furnish no information.^ 

1 I. e., Bay Island in the Gulf of Mexico, near the coast of Honduras. 

"^ Revelations of a Slave S/nuggle?; p. 98. 

8 Mr. H. Moulton in Slavery as it is, p. 140; cited in Facts and Obser- 
vations on the Slave Trade (Friends' ed. 1841), p. 8. 

* In a memorial to Congress, 1840: House Doc, 26 Cong, i sess. VI. 
No. 211. 

6 British and Foreign State Papers, 1845-6, pp. 883, 968, 989-90. The 
governor wrote in reply : " The United States, if properly served by their 
law officers in the Floridas, will not experience any difficulty in obtaining 



Sect. 79-] ACTIVITY OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. i6y 

Such was the state of the slave-trade in 1850, on the thresh- 
old of the critical decade which by a herculean effort was 
destined finally to suppress it. 

the requisite knowledge of these illegal transactions, which, I have reason 
to believe, were the subject of common notoriety in the neighbourhood 
where they occurred, and of boast on the part of those concerned in them '' : 
British and Fo7'eign State Papers, 1S45-6, p. 990. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE FINAL CRISIS. 1850-1870. 

80. The Movement against the Slave-Trade Laws. 

81. Commercial Conventions of 1855-56. 

82. Commercial Convention of 1857-58. 

83. Commercial Convention of 1859. 

84. Public Opinion in the South. 

85. The Question in Congress. 

86. Southern Policy in i860. 

87. Increase of the Slave-Trade from 1850 to i860. 

88. Notorious Infractions of the Laws. 

89. Apathy of the Federal Government. 

90. Attitude of the Southern Confederacy. 

91. Attitude of the United States. 

80. The Movement against the Slave-Trade Laws. It was not 
altogether a mistaken judgment that led the constitutional 
fathers to consider the slave-trade as the backbone of slavery. 
An economic system based on slave labor will find, sooner or 
later, that the demand for the cheapest slave labor cannot 
long be withstood. Once degrade the laborer so that he can- 
not assert his own rights, and there is but one limit below 
which his price cannot be reduced. That limit is not his phy- 
sical well-being, for it may be, and in the Gulf States it was, 
cheaper to work him rapidly to death ; the limit is simply the 
cost of procuring him and keeping him alive a profitable 
length of time. Only the moral sense of a community can 
keep helpless labor from sinking to this level ; and when a 
community has once been debauched by slavery, its moral 
sense offers little resistance to economic demand. This was 
the case in the West Indies and Brazil; and although better 
moral stamina held the crisis back longer in the United States, 



Sect. Si.] COMMERCIAL CONVENTIONS OF 1S55-5G. 169 

yet even here the ethical standard of the South was not able 
to maintain itself against the demands of the cotton industry. 
When, after 1850, the price of slaves had risen to a monopoly 
height, the leaders of the plantation system, brought to the 
edge of bankruptcy by the crude and reckless farming neces- 
sary under a slave regime, and baffled, at least temporarily, in 
their quest of new rich land to exploit, began instinctively to 
feel that the only salvation of American slavery lay in the 
reopening of the African slave-trade. 

It took but a spark to put this instinctive feeling into words, 
and words led to deeds. The movement first took definite form 
in the ever radical State of South Carolina. In 1854 a grand, 
jury in the Williamsburg district declared, " as our unanimous 
opinion, that the Federal law abolishing the African Slave Trade 
is a public grievance. We hold this trade has been and would 
be, if re-established, a blessing to the American people, and a 
benefit to the African himself." ^ This attracted only local 
attention; but when, in 1856, the governor of the State, in his 
annual message, calmly argued at length for a reopening of the 
trade, and boldly declared that " if we cannot supply the de- 
mand for slave labor, then we must expect to be supplied with 
a species of labor we do not want,"^ such words struck even 
Southern ears like " a thunder clap in a calm day."-^ And yet 
it needed but a few years to show that South Carolina had 
merely been the first to put into words the inarticulate thought 
of a large minority, if not a majority, of the inhabitants of the 
Gulf States. 

81. Commercial Conventions of 1855-56. The growth of the 
movement is best followed in the action of the Southern Com- 
mercial Convention, an annual gathering which seems to have 
been fairly representative of a considerable part of Southern 
opinion. > In the convention that met at New Orleans in 1855, 
McGimsey of Louisiana introduced a resolution instructing the 
Southern Congressmen to secure the repeal of the slave-trade 
laws. This resolution went to the Committee on Resolutions, 

^ British and Foreign State Papers, 1854-5, P- 1156. 

^ Cluskey, Political Text-Book (14th ed.), p. 585. 

^ De Bow''s Peviezv, XXII. 223 ; quoted from Andrew Hunter of Virginia. 



170 



THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 



and was not reported.^ In 1856, in the convention at Savannah, 
W. B. Goulden of Georgia moved that the members of Con- 
gress be requested to bestir themselves energetically to have 
repealed all laws which forbade the slave-trade. By a vote 
of 67 to 18 the convention refused to debate the motion, but 
appointed a committee to present at the next convention the 
facts relating to a reopening of the trade.^ In regard to this 
action a pamphlet of the day said : " There were introduced 
into the convention two leading measures, viz. : the laying of 
a State tariff on northern goods, and the reopening of the 
slave-trade; the one to advance our commercial interest, the 
other our agricultural interest, and which, when taken together, 
as they were doubtless intended to be, and although they have 
each been attacked by presses of doubtful service to the South, 
are characterized in the private judgment of politicians as one 
of the completest southern remedies ever submitted to popular 
action. . . . The proposition to revive, or more properly to 
reopen, the slave trade is as yet but imperfectly understood, in 
its intentions and probable results, by the people of the South, 
and but little appreciated by them. It has been received in 
all parts of the country with an undefined sort of repugnance, 
a sort of squeamishness, which is incident to all such violations 
of moral prejudices, and invariably wears off on familiarity with 
the subject. The South will commence by enduring, and end 
by embracing the project." ^ The matter being now fully be- 
fore the public through these motions, Governor Adams's 
message, and newspaper and pamphlet discussion, the radical 
party pushed the project with all energy. 

82. Commercial Conventions of 1857-58. The first piece of 
regular business that came before the Commercial Convention 
at Knoxville, Tennessee, August 10, 1857, was a proposal to 
recommend the abrogation of the 8th Article of the Treaty of 
Washington, on the slave-trade. An amendment offered by 

1 De Bow's Review, XVI 1 1- 628. 

- Ibid., XXII. 91, 102, 217, 221-2. 

8 From a pamphlet entitled " A New Southern Policy, or the Slave Trade 
as meaning Union and Conservatism ; " quoted in Etheridge's speech, Feb. 
21, 1857: Congressional Globe, 34 Cong. 3 sess., Appendix, p. 366. 



Sect. 82.] COMMERCIAL CONVENTIONS OF 1857-58. 17 1 

Sneed of Tennessee, declaring it inexpedient and against set- 
tled policy to reopen the trade, was voted down, Alabama, 
Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and 
Virginia refusing to agree to it. The original motion then 
passed ; and the radicals, satisfied with their success in the first 
skirmish, again secured the appointment of a committee to 
report at the next meeting on the subject of reopening the 
slave-trade.^ This next meeting assembled May 10, 1858, in 
a Gulf State, Alabama, in the city of Montgomery. Spratt 
of South Carolina, the slave-trade champion, presented an 
elaborate majority report from the committee, and recom- 
mended the following resolutions : — 

1. Resolved, That slavery is right, and that being right, there can be 
no wrong in the natural means to its formation. 

2. Resolved, That it is expedient and proper that the foreign slave 
trade should be re-opened, and that this Convention will lend its influence 
to any legitimate measure to that end. 

3. Resolved, That a committee, consisting of one from each slave 
State, be appointed to consider of the means, consistent with the duty 
and obligations of these States, for re-opening the foreign slave-trade, 
and that they report their plan to the next meeting of this Convention. 

Yancey, from the same committee, presented a minority re- 
port, which, though it demanded the repeal of the national 
prohibitory laws, did not advocate the reopening of the trade 
by the States. 

Much debate ensued. Pryor of Virginia declared the majority 
report " a proposition to dissolve the Union." Yancey declared 
that " he was for disunion now. [Applause.] " lie defended the 
principle of the slave-trade, and said : " If it is right to buy 
slaves in Virginia and carry them to New Orleans, why is it not 
right to buy them in Cuba, Brazil, or Africa, and carry them 
there?" The opposing speeches made little attempt to meet 

^ De Bow's Review, XXIII. 298-320. A motion to table the motion on 
the 8th article was supported only by Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, 
and Maryland. Those voting for Sneed's motion were Georgia, Marj'land, 
North Carolina, and Tennessee. The appointment of a slave-trade commit- 
tee was at first defeated by a vote of 48 to 44. Finally a similar motion was 
passed, 52 to 40. 



1/2 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

this uncomfortable logic; but, nevertheless, opposition enough 
was developed to lay the report on the table until the 
next convention, with orders that it be printed, in the mean 
time, as a radical campaign document. Finally the convention 
passed a resolution: — 

That it is inexpedient for any State, or its citizens, to attempt to 
re-open the African slave-trade while that State is one of the United 
States of America.^ 

83. Commercial Convention of 1859. The Convention of 1859 
met at Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 9-19, and the slave-trade 
party came ready for a fray. On the second day Spratt called 
up his resolutions, and the next day the Committee on Reso- 
lutions recommended that, " in the opinion of this Convention^ 
all laivs, State or Federal, prohibiting the African slave trade, 
ought to be repealed.'" Two minority reports accompanied this 
resolution : one proposed to postpone action, on account of the 
futility of the attempt at that time ; the other report recom- 
mended that, since repeal of the national laws was improbable, 
nullification by the States impracticable, and action by the 
Supreme, Court unlikely, therefore the States should bring in 
the Africans as apprentices, a system the legality of which " is 
incontrovertible." " The only difficult question," it was said, 
" is the future status of the apprentices after the expiration of 
their term of servitude." ^ Debate on these propositions began 
in the afternoon. A brilliant speech on the resumption of the 
importation of slaves, says Foote of Mississippi, " was listened 
to with breathless attention and applauded vociferously. Those 
of us who rose in opposition were looked upon by the excited 
assemblage present as traitors to the best interests of the South, 
and only worthy of expulsion from the body. The excitement 
at last grew so high that personal violence was menaced, and 
some dozen of the more conservative members of the convention 
withdrew from the hall in which it was holding its sittings."^ 

1 De Bow^s Review, XXIV. 473-491, 579-605. The Louisiana delega- 
tion alone did not vote for the last resolution, the vote of her delegation 
being evenly divided. 

2 /<5/^., XXVII. 94-235. 

*• H. S. Foote, in Bench and Bar of the South and Southwest, p. 69. 



Sect. 84.] PUBLIC OPINION IN THE SOUTH. 1 73 

" It was clear," adds De Bow, " that the people of Vicksburg 
looked upon it [i. e., the convention] with some distrust." ^ 
When at last a ballot was taken, the first resolution passed by 
a vote of 40 to 19.^ Finally, the 8th Article of the Treaty of 
Washington was again condemned; and it was also suggested, 
in the newspaper which was the official organ of the meeting, 
that " the Convention raise a fund to be dispensed in premiums 
for the best sermons in favor of reopening the African Slave 
Trade." ^ 

84. Public Opinion in the South. This record of the Commer- 
cial Conventions probably gives a true reflection of the devel- 
opment of extreme opinion on the question of reopening the 
slave-trade. First, it is noticeable that on this point there was 
a distinct divergence of opinion and interest between the Gulf and 
the Border States, and it was this more than any moral repug- 
nance that checked the radicals. ' The whole movement repre- 
sented the economic revolt of the slave-consuming cotton-belt 
against their base of labor supply. This revolt was only 
prevented from gaining its ultimate end by the fact that the 
Gulf States could not get on without the active political co- 
operation of the Border States. Thus, although such hot-heads 
as Spratt were not able, even as late as 1859, to carry a substan- 
tial majority of the South with them in an attempt to reopen 
the trade at all hazards, yet the agitation did succeed in sweep- 
ing away nearly all theoretical opposition to the trade, and left 

1 Dc Bow's Review, XXVII. 115. 
^ Ibid., p. 99. The vote was : — 

Yea. Nay. 

Alabama, 5 votes. Tennessee, 13 votes. 

Arkansas, 4 " Florida, 3 " 

South Carolina, 4 " South Carolina, 4 " 

Louisiana, 6 " — 

Texas, 4 " Total 19 

Georgia, 10 " Virginia, Marj'land, Kentucky, and 

Mississippi, 7 " North Carolina did not vote ; they 

— either withdrew or were not repre- 

Total 40 sented. 

8 Quoted in 26fh Report of the Amer. Anti-slav. Sac, p. 38. The official 
organ was the True Southron. 



174 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

the majority of Southern people in an attitude which regarded 
the reopening of the African slave-trade as merely a question of 
expediency. 

This growth of Southern opinion is clearly to be followed in the 
newspapers and pamphlets of the day, in Congress, and in many 
significant movements. The Charleston Standard in a series of 
articles strongly advocated the reopening of the trade ; the Rich- 
mond Examhicr, though opposing the scheme as a Virginia paper 
should, was brought to " acknowledge that the laws which con- 
demn the Slave-trade imply an aspersion upon the character of 
the South.^ In March, 1859, the National Era said: "There 
can be no doubt that the idea of reviving the African Slave Trade 
is gaining ground in the South. Some two months ago we could 
quote strong articles from ultra Southern journals against the 
traffic ; ^ut of late we have been sorry to observe in the same 
journals an ominous silence upon the subject, while the advo- 
cates of ' free trade in negroes' are earnest and active."^ The 
Savannah Republican, which at first declared the movement to 
be of no serious intent, conceded, in 1859, that it was gaining 
favor, and that nine-tenths of the Democratic Congressional 
Convention favored it, and that even those who did not advo- 
cate a revival demanded the abolition of the laws.^ A corre- 
spondent from South Carolina writes, December 18, 1859: "The 
nefarious project of opening it [i. e., the slave trade] has been 
started here in that prurient temper of the times which manifests 
itself in disunion schemes. . . . My State is strangely and ter- 
ribly infected with all this sort of thing. . . . One feeling that 
gives a countenance to the opening of the slave trade is, that it 
will be a sort of spite to the North and defiance of their opin- 
ions."* The New Orleans Delta declared that those who voted 
for the slave-trade in Congress were men " whose names will be 
honored hereafter for the unflinching manner in which they 

^ Quoted in 2}i.th Report of the Amer. Anti-slav. Soc.^ p. 54. 

2 Quoted in 26th Report, Ibid., p. 43. 

3 27th Report, Ibid., pp. 19-20. 

* Letter of W. C. Preston, in the National Intelligencer, April 3, 1863. 
Also published in the pamphlet, The African Slave Trade: The Sec?-et 
Purpose, etc., p. 26. 



Sect. 85.] THE QUESTION IN CONGRESS. 1 75 

stood up for principle, for truth, and consistency, as well as the 
vital interests of the South." ^ 

85. The Question in Congress. Early in December, 1856, the 
subject reached Congress ; and although the agitation was then 
new, fifty-seven Southern Congressmen refused to declare a 
re-opening of the slave-trade " shocking to the moral sentiment 
of the enlightened portion of mankind," and eight refused to 
call the reopening even " unwise" and "inexpedient."^ Three 
years later, January 31, 1859, it was impossible, in a House of 
one hundred and ninety-nine members, to get a two-thirds vote 
in order even to consider Kilgore's resolutions, which declared 
" that no legislation can be too thorough in its measures, nor 
can any penalty known to the catalogue of modern punishment 
for crime be too severe against a traffic so inhuman and 
unchristian."^ 

Congressmen and other prominent men hastened with the 
rising tide* Dowdell 01 Alabama declared the repressive acts 
" highly offensive ; " J. B. Clay of Kentucky was " opposed to all 
these laws; "^ Seward of Georgia declared them "wrong, and 
a violation of the Constitution;"'' Barksdale of Mississippi 
agreed with this sentiment ; Crawford of Georgia threatened a 
reopening of the trade ; Miles of South Carolina was for " sweep- 
ing away " all restrictions ; '* Keitt of South Carolina wished to 
withdraw the African squadron, and to cease to brand slave- 
trading as piracy;^ Brown of Mississippi "would repeal the 
law instantly;"^ Alexander Stephens, in his farewell address 
to his constituents, said : " Slave states cannot be made with- 

1 Quoted in Etheridge's speech : Congressional Globe, 34 Cong. 3 sess. 
Appen., p. 366. 

^ House Journal, 34 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 105-10; Congressional Globe, 2,-\ 
Cong. 3 sess. pp. 123-6; Cluskey, Political Text-Book (14th ed.), p. 589. 

8 House Journal, 35 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 298-9. Cf. 26th Report of the 
Amer. Anti-slav. Soc, p. 45. 

^ Cf. Reports of the Amer. Anti-slav. Soc, especially the 26th, pp. 43-4. 

^ Ibid., p. 43. He referred especially to the Treaty of 1842. 

® Ibid. J Congressional Globe, 35 Cong. 2 sess., Appen., pp. 24S-50. 

■^ 26 th Report of the Amer. Anti-slav. Soc, p. 44. 

6 Ibid.; 27th Report, pp. 13-4. 

^ 26 fh Report, Ibid., p. 44. 



176 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XL 

out Africans. . . . [My object is] to bring clearly to your 
mind the great truth that without an increase of African slaves 
from abroad, you may not expect or look for many more slave 
States." ^ Jefferson Davis strongly denied " any coincidence 
of opinion with those who prate of the inhumanity and sinful- 
ness of the trade. The interest of Mississippi," said he, " not 
of the African, dictates my conclusion." He opposed the 
immediate reopening of the trade in Mississippi for fear of a 
paralyzing influx of Negroes, but carefully added : " This con- 
clusion, in relation to Mississippi, is based upon my view of her 
preseiit condition, not upon any general theory. It is not sup- 
posed to be applicable to Texas, to New Mexico, or to any 
future acquisitions to be made south of the Rio Grande."^ 
John Forsyth, who for seven years conducted the slave-trade 
diplomacy of the nation, declared, about i860: "But one 
stronghold of its [i. e., slavery's] enemies remains to be car- 
ried, to complete its triumpJi and assure its welfare, - — that is the 
existing prohibition of the African Slave-trade."" Pollard, in 
his Black Diamonds, urged the importation of Africans as 
" laborers." " This I grant you," said he, " would be practically 
the re-opening of the African slave trade ; but . . . you will find 
that it very often becomes necessary to evade the letter of the 
law, in some of the greatest measures of social happiness and 
patriotism." * 

86. Southern Policy in 1860. The matter did not rest with 
mere words. During the session of the Vicksburg Convention, 
an " African Labor Supply Association " was formed, under the 
presidency of J. D. B. De Bow, editor of De Boiv's Reviezv, and 
ex-superintendent of the seventh census. The object of the 
association was " to promote the supply of African labor." ^ 
In 1857 the committee of the South Carolina legislature to 

1 Quoted in Lalor, Cyclopcedia, III. 733; Cairnes, The Slave Power 
(New York, 1862), p. 123, note; 211 th Report of the Ainer. Antl-slav. Soc., 
p. 15. 

2 Quoted in Cairnes, The Stave Power, p. 123, note; 21th Report of 
the Ajner. Anti-slav. Soc., p- 19. ; 

8 27th Report, Ibid., p. 16.; quoted from the Mobile Register. 

^ Edition of 1859, PP- 63-4. 

5 De Bow^s Review, XXVII. 121, 231-5. 



Sect. S6.] SOUTHERN POLICY IN ISGO. 1 77 

whom the Governor's slave-trade message was referred made an 
elaborate report, which declared in italics: " TJic South at large 
does need a re-opening of the African slave trade." Pettigrew, 
the only member who disagreed to this report, failed of re-elec- 
tion. The report contained an extensive argument to prove 
the kingship of cotton, the perfidy of English philanthropy, and 
the lack of slaves in the South, which, it was said, would show a 
deficit of six hundred thousand slaves by 1878.^ In Georgia, 
about this time, an attempt to expunge the slave-trade pro- 
hibition in the State Constitution lacked but one vote of pass- 
ing.2 From these slower and more legal movements came 
others less justifiable. The long argument on the "appren- 
tice " system finally brought a request to the collector of the 
port at Charleston, South Carolina, from E. 'Lafitte & Co., for 
a clearance to Africa for the purpose of importing African 
" emigrants." The collector appealed to the Secretary of 
the Treasury, Howell Cobb of Georgia, who flatly refused to 
take the bait, and replied that if the " emigrants " were 
brought in as slaves, it would be contrary to United States 
law; if as freemen, it would be contrary to their own State 
law.''^ In Louisiana a still more radical movement was at- 
tempted, and a bill passed the House of Representatives author- 
izing a company to import two thousand five hundred Africans, 
" indentured " for fifteen years " at least." The bill lacked 
but two votes of passing the Senate.^ It was said that the 
Georgian, of Savannah, contained a notice of an agricultural 
society which " unanimously resolved to ofi"er a premium of 
^25 for the best specimen of a live African imported into the 
United States within the last twelve months."^ 

It would not be true to say that there was in the South in 
i860 substantial unanimity on the subject of reopening the 

1 Report of the Special Co>}imittee, etc. (1857), pp. 24-5. 

2 26th Report of the Amer. Anti-stav. Soc., p. 40. The vote was 47 to 46. 
8 House Exec. Doc, 36 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 7, pp. 632-6. For the State 

law, cf. above, Chapter II. This refusal of Cobb's was sharply criticised 
by many Southern papers. Cf. 26th Report of the Amer. Anti-stav. Soc, 
P- 39- 

* New York Ittdcpendent, March 11 and April i, 1858. 

5 26th Report of t tie A>ner. Anti-stav. Soc, p. 41. 



178 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

slave-trade ; nevertheless, there certainly was a large and influ- 
ential minority, including perhaps a majority of citizens of the 
Gulf States, who favored the project, and, in defiance of law 
and morals, aided and abetted its actual realization. Various 
movements, it must be remembered, gained much of their 
strength from the fact that their success meant a partial nullifi- 
cation of the slave-trade laws. The admission of Texas added 
probably seventy-five thousand recently imported slaves to the 
Southern stock ; the movement against Cuba, which culmi- 
nated in the " Ostend Manifesto " of Buchanan, Mason, and 
Soule, had its chief impetus in the thousands of slaves whom 
Americans had poured into the island. Finally, the series of 
filibustering expeditions against Cuba, Mexico, and Central 
America were but the wilder and more irresponsible attempts 
to secure both slave territory and slaves. 

87. Increase of the Slave-Trade from 1850 to 1860. The long 
and open agitation for the reopening of the slave-trade, to- 
gether with the fact that the South had been more or less 
familiar with violations of the laws since 1808, led to such a 
remarkable increase of illicit traffic and actual importations in 
the decade 1 850-1 860, that the movement may almost be 
termed a reopening of the slave-trade. 

In the foreign slave-trade our own officers continue to report 
" how shamefully our flag has been used ; " ^ and British offi- 
cers write " that at least one half of the successful part of the 
slave trade is carried on under the American flag," and this 
because " the number of American cruisers on the station is so 
small, in proportion to the immense extent of the slave-dealing 
coast." 2 The fitting out of slavers became a flourishing busi- 
ness in the United States, and centred at New York City. 
" Few of our readers," writes a periodical of the day, " are 
aware of the extent to which this infernal traffic is carried on, 
by vessels clearing from New York, and in close alliance with 
our legitimate trade ; and that down-town merchants of wealth 

1 Gregory to the Secretary of the Navy, June 8, 1850 : Senate Exec. Doc, 
31 Cong. I sess. XIV. No. 66, p. 2. Cf. Ibid., 31 Cong, 2 sess. II. No. 6. 

2 dimming to Commodore Fanshawe, Feb. 22, 1850 : Senate Exec. Doc, 
31 Cong. I sess. XIV. No. 66, p. 8. 



Sect. 8;.] INCREASE OF SLAVE-TRADE, 1850-60. 179 

and respectability are extensively engaged in buying and sell- 
ing African Negroes, and have been, with comparatively little 
interruption, for an indefinite number of years." ^ Another 
periodical says : " The number of persons engaged in the 
slave-trade, and the amount of capital embarked in it, exceed 
our powers of calculation. The city of New York has been 
until of late [1862] the principal port of the world for this 
infamous commerce ; although the cities of Portland and Bos- 
ton are only second to her in that distinction. Slave dealers 
added largely to the wealth of our commercial metropolis; 
they contributed liberally to the treasuries of political organiza- 
tions, and their bank accounts were largely depleted to carry 
elections in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut." ^ 
During eighteen months of the years 1 859-1 860 eighty-five 
slavers are reported to have been fitted out in New York 
harbor,^ and these alone transported from 30,000 to 60,000 
slaves annually.* The United States deputy marshal of that dis- 
trict declared in 1856 that the business of fitting out slavers 
" was never prosecuted with greater energy than at present. 
The occasional interposition of the legal authorities exer- 
cises no apparent influence for its suppression. It is seldom 
that one or more vessels cannot be designated at the wharves, 
respecting which there is evidence that she is either in or has 
been concerned in the Traffic." ^ On the coast of Africa " it 
is a well-known fact that most of the Slave ships which visit 
the river are sent from New York and New Orleans." ^ 

1 New York Journal of Coi/unerce, 1S57; quoted in 2Ji,th Report of the 
Anier. Anti-slav. Soc, p. 56. 

2 " The Slave-Trade in New York," in the Continental Monthly, January, 
1862, p. ^7. 

' New York Evening Post ; quoted in Lalor, Cyclopcedia, III. 733. 
* Lalor, Cyclopcedia, III. 733; quoted from a New York paper. 

5 Friends' Appeal on behalf of the Coloured Races (185S), Appendix, 
p. 41 ; quoted from i\\t Journal of Commerce. 

6 26th Report of the Amer. Anti-slav. Soc, pp. 53-4; quoted from the 
African correspondent of the Bo's.ion Journal. From April, 1857, to May, 
1858, twenty-one of twenty-two slavers which were seized by British cruisers 
proved to be American, from New York, Boston, and New Orleans. Cf. 
25th Report, Ibid., p. 122. De Bow estimated in 1856 that forty slavers 



l80 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

The absence of United States war-ships at the Brazilian 
station enabled American smugglers to run in cargoes, in spite 
of the prohibitory law. One cargo of five hundred slaves was 
landed in 1852, and the Correio 3fercantil regrets "that it 
was the flag of the United States which covered this act of 
piracy, sustained by citizens of that great nation." ^ When the 
Brazil trade declined, the illicit Cuban trade greatly increased, 
and the British consul reported : " Almost all the slave expedi- 
tions for some time past have been fitted out in the United 
States, chiefly at New York." ^ 

88. Notorious Infractions of the Laws. This decade is especially 
noteworthy for the great increase of illegal importations into 
the South. These became bold, frequent, and notorious. Sys- 
tematic introduction on a considerable scale probably com- 
menced in the forties, although with great secrecy. " To have 
boldly ventured into New Orleans, with negroes freshly im- 
ported from Africa, would not only have brought down upon 
the head of the importer the vengeance of our very philan- 
thropic Uncle Sam, but also the anathemas of the whole sect 
of philanthropists and negrophilists everywhere. To import 
them for years, however, into quiet places, evading with im- 
punity the penalty of the law, and the ranting of the thin- 
skinned sympathizers with Africa, was gradually to popularize 
the traffic by creating a demand for laborers, and thus to pave 
the way for the gradual revival of the slave trade. To this 
end, a few men, bold and energetic, determined, ten or twelve 
years ago [1848 or 1850], to commence the business of im- 
porting negroes, slowly at first, but surely; and for this purpose 
they selected a few secluded places on the coast of Florida, 
Georgia and Texas, for the purpose of concealing their stock 
until it could be sold out. Without specifying other places, 
let me draw your attention to a deep and abrupt pocket or 
indentation in the coast of Texas, about thirty miles from 
Brazos Santiago. Into this pocket a slaver could run at any 

cleared annually from Eastern harbors, clearing yearly $17,000,000: De 
Bow''s Review, XXII. 430-1. 

^ Senate Exec. Doc., 33 Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 47, p. 13. 

2 House Exec. Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. XII. No. 105, p. 38. 



Sect. 88.] NOTORIOUS INFRACTIONS OF LAWS. l8l 

hour of the night, because there was no hindrance at the en- 
trance, and here she could discharge her cargo of movables 
upon the projecting bluff, and again proceed to sea inside of 
three hours. The Hve stock thus landed could be marched 
a short distance across the main island, over a porous soil 
which refuses to retain the recent foot-prints, until they were 
again placed in boats, and were concealed upon some of the 
innumerable little islands which thicken on the waters of the 
Laguna in the rear. These islands, being covered with a thick 
growth of bushes and grass, offer an inscrutable hiding place 
for the ' black diamonds.' " ^ These methods became, how- 
ever, toward i860, too slow for the radicals, and the trade grew 
more defiant and open. The yacht " Wanderer," arrested on 
suspicion in New York and released, landed in Georgia six 
months later four hundred and twenty slaves, who were never 
recovered.^ The Augusta Despatch says: "Citizens of our 
city are probably interested in the enterprise. It is hinted that 
this is the third cargo landed by the same company, during the 
last six months." ^ Two parties of Africans were brought into 
Mobile with impunity. One bark, strongly suspected of hav- 
ing landed a cargo of slaves, was seized on the Florida coast; 
another vessel was reported to be landing slaves near Mobile; 
a letter from Jacksonville, Florida, stated that a bark had left 
there for Africa to ship a cargo for Florida and Georgia.^ 
Stephen A. Douglas said " that there was not the shadow of 
doubt that the Slave-trade had been carried on quite exten- 
sively for a long time back, and that there had been more 
Slaves imported into the southern States, during the last year, 
than had ever been imported before in any one year, even 
when the Slave-trade was legal. It was his confident belief, 
that over fifteen thousand Slaves had been brought into this 
country during the past year [1859.] He had seen, with hisv 

1 New York Herald, Aug. 5, i860; quoted in Drake, Revdatio7is of a 
Slave Svniggler, Introd., pp. vii.-viii. 

2 House Exec. Doc, 35 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 89. Cf. 26th Report of 
the Amer. Anti-slav. Soc, pp. 45-9. 

3 Quoted in 2Gth Report, Ibid., p. 46. 

- For all the above cases, cf. Ibid., p. 49, 



1 82 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

own eyes, three hundred of those recently-imported, miserable 
beings, in a Slave-pen in Vicksburg, Miss., and also large num- 
bers at Memphis, Tenn." ^ It was currently reported that depots 
for these slaves existed in over twenty large cities and towns in 
the South, and an interested person boasted to a senator, about 
i860, that "twelve vessels would discharge their living freight 
upon our shores within ninety days from the ist of June last," 
and that between sixty and seventy cargoes had been success- 
fully introduced in the last eighteen months.^ The New York 
Trib2ine ^o\x\i\.&d. the statement; but John C. Underwood, for- 
merly of Virginia, v/rote to the paper saying that he was satis- 
fied that the correspondent was correct. " I have," he said, 
" had ample evidences of the fact, that reopening the African 
Slave-trade is a thing already accomplished, and the traffic is 
brisk, and rapidly increasing. In fact, the most vital question 
of the day is not the opening of this trade, but its suppression. 
The arrival of cargoes of negroes, fresh from Africa, in our 
southern ports, is an event of frequent occurrence." ^ 

Negroes, newly landed, were openly advertised for sale in the 
public press, and bids for additional importations made. In 
reply to one of these, the Mobile Mcrairy facetiously remarks : 
" Some negroes who never learned to talk English, went up 
the railroad the other day.""* Congressmen declared on the 
floor of the House : " The slave trade may therefore be regarded 

1 Quoted in 21th Re-port, Ibid., p. 20. Cf. Report of the Secretary of the 
Navy, 1859: Senate Exec. Doc, 36 Cong. I sess. III. No. 2. 

2 27th Report of the Aj;:er. Anti-slav. Soc, p. 21. 

3 Quoted in Ilu'd 

* Issue of July 22, i860; quoted in Drake, Revelations of a Slave 
Smuggler, Introd., p. vi. The advertisement referred to was addressed to 
■the "Shipowners and Masters of our Mercantile Marine," and appeared in 
the Enterprise (Miss.) Weekly News, April 14, 1859. William S. Price 
and seventeen others state that they will "pay three hundred dollars per 
head for one thousand native Africans, between the ages of fourteen and 
twenty years, (of sexes equal,) likely, sound, and healthy, to be delivered 
within twelve months from this date, at some point accessible by land, 
between Pensacola, Fla., and Galveston, Texas; the contractors giving 
thirty days' notice as to time and place of delivery ": Quoted in 2Gth Report 
of the Amer. Anti-slav. Soc, pp. 41-2. 



Sect. 89.] APATHY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 183 

as practically re-established; "^ and petitions like that from the 
American Missionary Society recited the fact that " this piratical 
and illegal trade — this inhuman invasion of the rights of men, 
— this outrage on civilization and Christianity — this violation 
of the laws of God and man — is openly countenanced and 
encouraged by a portion of the citizens of some of the States 
of this Union." 2 

From such evidence it seems clear that the slave-trade laws, 
in spite of the efforts of the government, in spite even of much 
opposition to these extra-legal methods in the South itself, were 
grossly violated, if not nearly nullified, in the latter part of the 
decade 1850-1860. • 

89. Apathy of the Federal Goyernment. During the decade 
there was some attempt at reactionary legislation, chiefly directed 
at the Treaty of Washington. June 13, 1854, Slidell, from the 
Committee on Foreign Relations, made an elaborate report to 
the Senate, advocating the abrogation of the Sth Article of that 
treaty, on the ground that it was costly, fatal to the health of the 
sailors, and useless, as the trade had actually increased under 
its operation.^ Both this and a similar attempt in the House 
failed,'* as did also an attempt to substitute life imprisonment for 
the death penalty.^ Most of the actual legislation naturally took 
the form of appropriations. In 1853 there was an attempt to 
appropriate $20,000.° This failed, and the appropriation of 

^ Congressiotial Globe., 35 Cong, i sess. p. 1362. Cf. the speech of a dele- 
gate from Georgia to the Democratic Convention at Charleston, i860: " If 
any of you northern democrats will go home with me to my plantation, I will 
show you some darkies that I bought in Virginia, some in Delaware, some 
in Florida, and I will also show you the pure African, the noblest Roman of 
them all. I represent the African slave trade interest of my section : " Lalor, 
Cyclopcedia, III. 733. 

2 Settate Misc. Doc, 36 Cong, i sess. No. 8. 

3 Senate Jojirnal, 34 Cong. 1-2 sess. pp. 396, 695-S ; Senate Reports., 34 
Cong. I sess. I. No. 195. 

^ House Jonrnal., 31 Cong. 2 sess. p. 64. There was still another attempt 
by Sandidge. Cf. 26th Report of the Aiiier. Anti-Slav. Soc.., p. 44. 

5 Senate Joternaly 36 Cong, i sess. p. 274; Congressional Globe, 36 Cong. 
I sess. p. 1245. 

® Congressional Globe, 32 Cong. 2 sess. p. 1072. 



1 84 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap, XL 

^8,000 in 1856 was the first for ten years.^ The following year 
brought a similar appropriation,^ and in 1859^ and 1860^ 
$75,000 and $40,000 respectively were appropriated. Of at- 
tempted legislation to strengthen the laws there was plenty : e. g., 
propositions to regulate the issue of sea-letters and the use of 
our flag; ^ to prevent the " coolie" trade, or the bringing in of 
"apprentices" or "African laborers;"^ to stop the coastwise 
trade ; '' to assent to a Right of Search ; ^ and to amend the 
Constitution by forever prohibiting the slave-trade.^ 

The efforts of the executive during this period were criminally 
lax and negligent. " The General Government did not exert 
itself in good faith to carry out either its treaty stipulations or 
tlie legislation of Congress in regard to the matter. If a vessel 
was captured, her owners were permitted to bond her, and thus 
continue her in the trade; and if any man was convicted of this 
form of piracy, the executive always interposed between him and 
the penalty of his crime. The laws providing for the seizure of 
vessels engaged in the traffic were so constructed as to render the 
duty unremunerative ; and marshals now find their fees for such 

^ I. e., since 1846: Statutes at Large ^ XI. 90. 

2 Ibid., XI. 227. 

3 Ibid., XI. 404. 
* Ibid., XII. 21. 

^ E. g., Clay's resolutions : Congressional Globe, 31 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 304-9. 
Clayton's resolutions : Senate Journal, 33 Cong, i sess. p. 404; House Jour- 
nal, 33 Cong. I sess. pp. 1093, 1332-3; Congressional Globe, 33 Cong, i sess. 
pp. 1 591-3, 2139. Seward's bill: Senate Journal, 33 Cong, i sess. pp. 448, 

451- 

^ Mr. Blair of Missouri asked unanimous consent in Congress, Dec. 23, 
1858, to a resolution instructing the Judiciary Committee to bring in such a 
bill ; Houston of Alabama objected : Congressional Globe, 35 Cong. 2 sess. 
p. 198; 26th Report of the Amer. Anti-slav. Soe., p. 44. 

■^ This was the object of attack in 1851 and 1853 by Giddings : House 
Journal, 32 Cong, i sess. p. 42 ; 33 Cong, i sess. p. 147. Cf. Hotise Jour- 
nal, 38 Cong. I sess. p. 46. 

8 By Mr. Wilson, March 20, i860 : Senate Journal, 36 Cong, i sess. p. 274. 

^ Four or five such attempts were made : Dec. 12, i860, Hotise Journal, 
36 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 61-2; Jan. 7, 1861, Congressional Globe, 36 Cong. 
2 sess. p. 279; Jan. 23, i86\. Ibid., p. 527; Feb. I, 1S61, Ibid., p. 690; Feb. 
27, 1 861, Ibid., pp. 1243, 1259. 



Sect. 89-] APATHY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMEXT. 1 85 

services to be actually less than their necessary expenses. No 
one who bears this fact in mind will be surprised at the great 
indifference of these officers to the continuing of the slave-trade; 
in fact, he will be ready to learn that the laws of Congress upon the 
subject had become a dead letter, and that the suspicion was well 
grounded that certain officers of the Federal Government had 
actually connived at their violation."^ From 1845 to 1854, in 
spite of the well-known activity of the trade, but five cases 
obtained cognizance in the New York district. Of these, Cap- 
tains Mansfield and Driscoll forfeited their bonds of $5,000 each, 
and escaped ; in the case of the notorious Canot, nothing had 
been done as late as 1856, although he was arrested in 1847; 
Captain Jefferson turned State's evidence, and, in the case of 
Captain Mathew, a nolle prosequi ^-dL^ entered.^ Between 1854 
and 1856 thirty-two persons were indicted in New York, of 
whom only thirteen had at the latter date been tried, and only 
one of these convicted.^ These dismissals were seldom on 
account of insufficient evidence. In the notorious case of the 
" Wanderer," she was arrested on suspicion, released, and soon 
after she landed a cargo of slaves in Georgia ; some who 
attempted to seize the Negroes were arrested for larceny, and 
in spite of the efforts of Congress the captain was never pun- 
ished. The yacht was afterwards started on another voyage, and 
being brought back to Boston was sold to her former owner for 
about one third her value.* The bark " Emily" was seized on 
suspicion and released, and finally caught red-handed on the 
coast of Africa ; she was sent to New York for trial, but " dis- 
appeared " under a certain slave captain, Townsend, who had, 
previous to this, in the face of the most convincing evidence, 
been acquitted at Key West.^ 

The squadron commanders of this time were by no means as 

^ " The Slave-Trade in New York," in the Continental Monthly. January, 
1862, p. 87. 

2 New York Herald, July 14, 1856. 

3 Ibid. Cf. Senate Exec. Doc, 37 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 53. 

* 27th Report of the Ainer. Anti-slav. Sac., pp. 25-6. Cf. 2Qth Report, 
Ibid., pp. 45-9. 

5 21th Report, Ibid., pp. 26-7. 



1 86 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

efficient as their predecessors, and spent much of their time, ap- 
parently, in discussing the Right of Search. Instead of a num- 
ber of small light vessels, which by the reports of experts were 
repeatedly shown to be the only efficient craft, the government, 
until 1859, persisted in sending out three or four great frigates. 
Even these did not attend faithfully to their duties. A letter 
from on board one of them shows that, out of a fifteen months' 
alleged service, only twenty-two days were spent on the usual 
cruising-ground for slavers, and thirteen of these at anchor; 
eleven months were spent at Madeira and Cape Verde Islands, 
300 miles from the coast and 3,000 miles from the slave 
market.^ British commanders report the apathy of American 
officers and the extreme caution of their instructions, which 
allowed many slavers to escape.^ 

The officials at Washington often remained in blissful, and \ 
perhaps willing, ignorance of the state of the trade. While 
Americans were smuggling slaves by the thousands into Brazil, 
and by the hundreds into the United States, Secretary Graham 
was recommending the abrogation of the 8th Article of the 
Treaty of Washington;^ so, too, when the Cuban slave-trade 
was reaching unprecedented activity, and while slavers were 
being fitted out in every port on the Atlantic seaboard. Sec- 
retary Kennedy naively reports. "The time has come, perhaps, 
when it may be properly commended to the notice of Congress 
to inquire into the necessity of further continuing the regular 
employment of a squadron on this [i. e., the African] coast."* 
Again, in 1855, the government has "advices that the slave 
trade south of the equator is entirely broken up;"^ in 1856, 
the reports are "favorable;"^ in 1857 a British commander 
writes: " No vessel has been seen here for one year, certainly; 
I think for nearly three years there have been no American 
cruizers on these waters, where a valuable and extensive Ameri- 

^ 26 fh Report of the Amer. Anti-Slav. Soe., p. 54. 

2 British and Foreign State Papers, 1859-60, pp. 899, 973. 

8 Nov. 29, 1851 : Hotise Exec. Doc, 32 Cong, i sess. II.pt. 2, No. 2, p. 4. 

* Dec. 4, 1852: Ibid., 32 Cong. 2 sess. I. pt. 2, No. i, p. 293. 

5 Ibid., 34 Cong, i sess. I. pt. 3, No. i, p. 5. 

'° Ibid., 34 Cong. 3 sess. I. pt. 2, No. i, p. 407. 



Sect. 89-] APATHY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 1 87 

can commerce is carried on. I cannot, therefore, but think that 
this continued absence of foreign cruizers looks as if they were 
intentionally withdrawn, and as if the Government did not care 
to take measures to prevent the American flag being used to 
cover Slave Trade transactions ;" ^ nevertheless, in this same 
year, according to Secretary Toucey, " the force on the coast 
of Africa has fully accomplished its main object."^ Finally, in 
the same month in which the "Wanderer" and her mates were 
openly landing cargoes in the South, President Buchanan, who 
seems to have been utterly devoid of a sense of humor, was 
urging the annexation of Cuba to the United States as the only 
method of suppressing the slave-trade ! ^ 

About 1859 the frequent and notorious violations of our laws 
aroused even the Buchanan government; a larger appropriation 
was obtained, swift light steamers were employed, and, though 
we may well doubt whether after such a carnival illegal impor- 
tatk)ns<' entirely " ceased, as the President informed Congress,^ 
yet some sincere efforts at suppression were certainly begun. 
From 1850 to 1859 we have few notices of captured slavers, but 
in i860 the increased appropriation of the thirty-fifth Congress 
resulted in the capture of twelve vessels with 3,119 Africans.^ 
The Act of June 16, i860, enabled the President to contract 
with the Colonization Society for the return of recaptured 
Africans; and by a long-needed arrangement cruisers were to 
proceed direct to Africa with such cargoes, instead of first 
landing them in this country.^ 

1 Commander Burgess to Commodore Wise, Whydah, Aug. 12, 1857: 
Parliament a>y Papers, 185 7-8, vol. LXI. Slave Trade, Class A, p. 136. 

2 House Exec. Doc., 35 Cong, i sess. II. pt. 3, No. 2, p. 576. 
8 Ibid., 35 Cong. 2 sess. II. pt. I, No. 2, pp. 14-15. 31-33- 

* Senate Exec. Doc, 36 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i, p. 24. The Report of 
the Secretary of the Navy, 1859, contains this ambiguous passage: "What 
the effect of breaking up the trade will be upon the United States or 
Cuba it is not necessary to inquire ; certainly, under the laws of Congress 
and our treaty obligations, it is the duty of the executive government to see 
that our citizens shall not be engaged in it": Ibid., 36 Cong, i sess. III. 
No. 2, pp. 1 1 38-9. 

s Ibid., 36 Cong. 2 sess. III. pt. i, No. i, pp. 8-9. 

6 Statutes at Large, XII. 40. 



1 88 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

90. Attitude of the Southern Confederacy. The attempt, ini- 
tiated by the constitutional fathers, to separate the problem of 
slavery from that of the slave-trade had, after a trial of half a 
century, signally failed, and for well-defined economic reasons. 
The nation had at last come to the parting of the ways, one of 
which led to a free-labor system, the other to a slave system 
fed by the slave-trade. Both sections of the country naturally 
hesitated at the cross-roads : the North clung to the delusion 
that a territorially limited system of slavery, without a slave- 
trade, was still possible in the South ; the South hesitated to fight 
for her logical object — slavery and free trade in Negroes — 
and, in her moral and economic dilemma, sought to make 
autonomy and the Constitution her object. The real line of 
contention was, however, fixed by years of development, and was 
unalterable by the present whims or wishes of the contestants, 
no matter how important or interesting these might be: the tri- 
umph of the North meant free labor; the triumph of the South 
meant slavery and the slave-trade. 

It is doubtful if many of the Southern leaders ever deceived 
themselves by thinking that Southern slavery, as it then was, 
could long be maintained without a general or a partial reopening 
of the slave-trade. Many had openly declared this a few years 
before, and there was no reason for a change of opinion. Never- 
theless, at the outbreak of actual war and secession, there were 
powerful and decisive reasons for relegating the question tem- 
porarily to the rear. In the first place, only by this means 
could the adherence of important Border States be secured, 
without the aid of which secession was folly. Secondly, while 
it did no harm to laud the independence of the South and the 
kingship of cotton in " stump " speeches and conventions, yet, 
when it came to actual hostilities, the South sorely needed the 
aid of Europe; and this a nation fighting for slavery and the 
slave-trade stood poor chance of getting. Consequently, after 
attacking the slave-trade laws for a decade, and their execution 
for a quarter-century, we find the Southern leaders inserting, 
in both the provisional and the permanent Constitutions of the 
Confederate States, the following article : — 



Sect. 90.] ATTITUDE OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. 1 89 

The importation of negroes of the African race, from any foreign 
country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United 
States of America, is hereby forbidden ; and Congress is required to 
pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same. 

Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves 
from any State not a member of, or Territory not belonging to, this 
Confederacy. 1 

The attitude of the Confederate government toward this 
article is best illustrated by its circular of instructions to its 
foreign ministers : — 

It has been suggested to this Government, from a source of unques- 
tioned authenticity, that, after the recognition of our independence by 
the European Powers, an expectation is generally entertained by them 
that in our treaties of amity and commerce a clause will be introduced 
making stipulations against the African slave trade. It is even thought 
that neutral Powers may be inclined to insist upon the insertion of such 
a clause as a sine qua non. 

You are well aware how firmly fixed in our Constitution is the policy 
of this Confederacy against the opening of that trade, but we are in- 
formed that false and insidious suggestions have been made by the agents 
of the United States at European Courts of our intention to change our 
constitution as soon as peace is restored, and of authorizing the impor- 
tation of slaves from Africa. If, therefore, you should find, in your 
intercourse with the Cabinet to which you are accredited, that any such 
impressions are entertained, you will use every proper effort to remove 
them, and if an attempt is made to introduce into any treaty which 
you may be charged with negotiating stipulations on the subject just 
mentioned, you will assume, in behalf of your Government, the position 
which, under the direction of the President, I now proceed to develop. 

The Constitution of the Confederate States is an agreement made 
between independent States. By its terms all the powers of Government 
are separated into classes as follows, viz. : — 

I St. Such powers as the States delegate to the General Government. 

2d. Such powers as the States agree to refrain from exercising, al- 
though they do not delegate them to the General Government. 

3d. Such powers as the States, without delegating them to the Gen- 

1 Confederate States of America Statutes at Large, 1861, p. 15, Con- 
stitution, Art. I, sect. 9, §§ i, 2. 



190 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

eral Government, thought proper to exercise by direct agreement be- 
tween themselves contained in the Constitution. 

4th. All remaining powers of sovereignty, which not being delegated to 
the Confederate States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States, 
are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people thereof. . . . Espe- 
cially in relation to the importation of African negroes was it deemed 
important by the States that no power to permit it should exist in the Con- 
federate Government. ... It will thus be seen that no power is dele- 
gated to the Confederate Government over this subject, but that it is 
included in the third class above referred to, of powers exercised directly 
by the States. . . . This Government unequivocally and absolutely de- 
nies its possession of any power whatever over the subject, and cannot 
entertain any proposition in relation to it. . . . The policy of the Con- 
federacy is as fixed and immutable on this subject as the imperfection 
of human nature permits human resolve to be. No additional agree- 
ments, treaties, or stipulations can commit these States to the prohibition 
of the African slave trade with more binding efficacy than those they 
have themselves devised. A just and generous confidence in their good 
faith on this subject exhibited by friendly Powers will be far more effi- 
cacious than persistent efforts to induce this Government to assume the 
exercise of powers which it does not possess. . . . We trust, therefore, 
that no unnecessary discussions on this matter will be introduced into 
your negotiations. If, unfortunately, this reliance should prove ill- 
founded, you will decline continuing negotiations on your side, and 
transfer them to us at home. . . } 

This attitude of the conservative leaders of the South, if it 
meant anything, meant that individual State action could, when 
it pleased, reopen the slave-trade. The radicals were, of course, 
not satisfied with any veiling of the ulterior purpose of the new 
slave republic, and attacked the constitutional provision vio- 
lently. "If," said one, "the clause be carried into the perma- 
nent government, our whole movement is defeated. It will 

1 From an intercepted circular despatch from J. P. Benjamin, "Secre- 
tary of State," addressed in this particular instance to Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, 
" Commissioner, etc, St. Petersburg, Russia," and dated Richmond, Jan. 15, 
1863; published in the National Intelligencer^ March 31, 1863; cf. also the 
issues of Feb. 19, 1861, April 2, 3, 25, 1863 ; also published in the pamphlet, 
The African Slave-Trade : The Secret Purpose, etc. The editors vouch 
for its authenticity, and state it to be in Benjamin's own handwriting. 



Sect. 91] ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES. 191 

abolitioaize the Border Slave States — it will brand our institu- 
tion. Slavery cannot share a government with Democracy, — it 
cannot bear a brand upon it; thence another revolution . . . 
having achieved one revolution to escape democracy at the 
North, it must still achieve another to escape it at the South. 
That it will ultimately triumph none can doubt." ^ 

91. Attitude of the United States. In the North, with all the 
hesitation in many matters, there existed unanimity in regard 
to the slave-trade ; and the new Lincoln government ushered in 
the new policy of uncompromising suppression by hanging the 
first American slave-trader who ever suffered the extreme pen- 
alty of the law.^ One of the earliest acts of President Lincoln 
was a step v.'hich had been necessary since 1808, but had never 
been taken, viz., the unification of the whole work of suppres- 
sion into the hands of one responsible department. By an or- 
der, dated May 2, i86r, Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the 
Interior, was charged with the execution of the slave-trade 
laws,^ and he immediately began energetic work. Early in 
1 86 1, as soon as the withdrawal of the Southern members untied 
the hands of Congress, two appropriations of $900,000 each were 
made to suppress the slave trade, the first appropriations com- 
mensurate with the vastness of the task. These were followed 
by four appropriations of $17,000 each in the years 1863 to 
1867, and two of $12,500 each in 1868 and 1869.* The first 
work of the new secretary was to obtain a corps of efficient 
assistants. To this end, he assembled all the marshals of the 
loyal seaboard States at New York, and gave them instruction 
and opportunity to inspect actual slavers. Congress also, for 

^ L. W. Spratt of South Carolina, in the Southern Literary Messenger, 
June, 1861, XXXII. 414, 420. Cf. also the Charleston Mercury, Feb. 13, 
1861, and the National Intelligencer, Feb. 19, 1861. 

2 Captain Godon of the slaver " Erie ;" condemned in the U. S. District 
Court for Southern New York in 1862. Cf. Senate Exec. Doc, 37 Cong. 2 
sess. I. No. I, p. 13. 

8 Ibid., pp. 453-4. 

* Stattites at Large, XII. 132, 219, 639; XIII. 424; XIV. 226, 415; 
XV. 58, 321. The sum of $250,000 was also appropriated to return the slaves 
on the " Wildfire " : Ibid., XII. 40-41. 



192 THE FINAL CRISIS. [Chap. XI. 

the first time, offered them proper compensation.^ The next 
six months showed the effect of this policy in the fact that five 
vessels were seized and condemned, and four slave-traders were 
convicted and suffered the penalty of their crimes. " This is 
probably the largest number [of convictions] ever obtained, and 
certainly the only ones for many years." ^ 

Meantime the government opened negotiations with Great 
Britain, and the treaty of 1862 was signed June 7, and carried 
out by Act of Congress, July 11.^ Specially commissioned war 
vessels of either government were by this agreement authorized 
to search merchant vessels on the high seas and specified coasts, 
and if they were found to be slavers, or, on account of their con- 
struction or equipment, were suspected to be such, they were to 
be sent for condemnation to one of the mixed courts established 
at New York, Sierra Leone, and the Cape of Good Hope. These 
courts, consisting of one judge and one arbitrator on the part of 
each government, were to judge the facts without appeal, and 
upon condemnation by them, the culprits were to be punished 
according to the laws of their respective countries. The area in 
which this Right of Search could be exercised was somewhat 
enlarged by an additional article to the treaty, signed in 1863. 
In 1870 the mixed courts were abolished, but the main part of 
the treaty was left in force. The Act of July 17, 1862, enabled 
the President to contract with foreign governments for the ap- 
prenticing of recaptured Africans in the West Indies,* and in 
1864 the coastwise slave-trade was forever prohibited.'^ By these 
measures the trade was soon checked, and before the end of 
the war entirely suppressed.^ The vigilance of the govern- 
ment, however, was not checked, and as late as 1866 a squad- 
ron of ten ships, with one hundred and thirteen guns, patrolled 

^ Statutes at Large, XII. 36S-9. 

"^ Senate Exec. Doc., 37 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i, pp. 453-4. 
3 Statutes at Large, XII. 531. 

* For a time not exceeding five years: Ibid., pp. 592-3. 
^ By section 9 of an appropriation act for civil expenses, July 2, 1864: 
/^/V/., XIII. 353. 

^ British officers attested this: Diplomatic Co)'respo7tdence, 1862, p. 285. 



Sect. 91 •] ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES. 193 

the slave coast.^ Finally, the Thirteenth Amendment legally- 
confirmed what the war had already accomplished, and slavery 
and the slave-trade fell at one blow.^ 

1 Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1866; House Exec. Doc, 39 Cong. 
2 sess. IV. p. 12. 

" There were some later attempts to legislate. Sumner tried to repeal 
the Act of 1803 : Congressional Globe, 41 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 2894, 2932, 4953, 
5594. Banks introduced a bill to prohibit Americans owning or dealing 
in slaves abroad: House fournal, 42 Cong. 2 sess. p. 48. For the legisla- 
tion of the Confederate States, cf. Mason, Veto Power, 2d ed.. Appendix 
C, No. I. 



13 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ESSENTIALS IN THE STRUGGLE. 

92. How the Question arose. 

93. The Moral Movement. 

94. The Political Movement. 

95. The Economic Movement. 

96. The Lesson for Americans. 

1/ 

92. How the Question Arose. We have followed a chapter 
of history which is of peculiar interest to the sociologist. 
Here was a rich new land, the wealth of which was to be had in 
return for ordinary manual labor. Had the country been con- 
ceived of as existing primarily for the benefit of its actual 
inhabitants, it might have waited for natural increase or immi- 
gration to supply the needed hands; but both Europe and the 
earlier colonists themselves regarded this land as existing chiefly 
for the benefit of Europe, and as designed to be exploited, as 
rapidly and ruthlessly as possible, of the boundless wealth of its 
resources. This was the primary excuse for the rise of the 
African slave-trade to America. 

Every experiment of such a kind, however, where the moral 
standard of a people is lowered for the sake of a material advan- 
tage, is dangerous in just such proportion as that advantage 
is great. In this case it was great. For at least a century, in 
the West Indies and the southern United States, agriculture 
flourished, trade increased, and English manufactures were 
nourished, in just such proportion as Americans stole Negroes 
and worked them to death. This advantage, to be sure, became 
much smaller in later times, and at one critical period was, at 
least in the Southern States, almost nil ; but energetic efforts 
were wanting, and, before the nation was aware, slavery had 
seized a new and well-nigh immovable footing in the Cotton 
Kingdom. \j 



Sect. 93-] THE MORAL MOVEMENT. 195 

The colonists averred with perfect truth that they did not 
commence this fatal traffic, but that it was imposed upon them 
from without. Nevertheless, all too soon did they lay aside 
scruples against it and hasten to share its material benefits. 
Even those who braved the rough Atlantic for the highest 
moral motives fell early victims to the allurements of this 
system. Thus, throughout colonial history, in spite of many 
honest attempts to stop the further pursuit of the slave-trade, 
we notice back of nearly all such attempts a certain moral 
apathy, an indisposition to attack the evil with the sharp 
weapons which its nature demanded. Consequently, there 
developed steadily, irresistibly, a vast social problem, which 
required two centuries and a half for a nation of trained 
European stock and boasted moral fibre to solve. 

93. The Moral Movement. For the solution of this problem 
there were, roughly speaking, three classes of efforts made 
during this time, — moral, political, and economic: that is to 
say, efforts which sought directly to raise the moral standard of 
the nation; efforts which sought to stop the trade by legal 
enactment; efforts which sought to neutralize the economic 
advantages of the slave-trade. There is always a certain 
glamour about the idea of a nation rising up to crush an evil 
simply because it is wrong. Unfortunately, this can seldom be 
realized in real life ; for the very existence of the evil usually 
argues a moral weakness in the very place where extraordinary 
moral strength is called for. This was the case in the early 
history of the colonies; and experience proved that an appeal ^ 
to moral rectitude was unheard in Carolina \vhen rice had 
become a great crop, and in Massachusetts when the rum- 
slave-traffic was paying a profit of 100 %. That the various 
abolition societies and anti-slavery movements did heroic 
work in rousing the national conscience is certainly true ; un- 
fortunately, however, these movements were weakest at the 
most critical times. When, in 1774 and 1804, the material 
advantages of the slave-trade and the institution of slavery 
were least, it seemed possible that moral suasion might accom- 
plish the abolition of both. A fatal spirit of temporizing, 
however, seized the nation at these points; and although the 



196 THE ESSENTIALS IN THE STRUGGLE. [Chap. XII. 

slave-trade was, largely for political reasons, forbidden, slavery 
was left untouched. Beyond this point, as years rolled by, it 
was found well-nigh impossible to rouse the moral sense of the 
nation. Even in the matter of enforcing its own laws and co- 
operating with the civilized world, a lethargy seized the coun- 
try, and it did not awake until slavery was about to destroy 
it. Even then, after a long and earnest crusade, the national 
sense of right did not rise to the entire abolition of slavery. 
It was only a peculiar and almost fortuitous commingling of 
moral, political, and economic motives that eventually crushed 
African slavery and its handmaid, the slave-trade in America. 

94. The Political Movement. The political efforts to limit 
the slave-trade were the outcome partly of moral reprobation 
of the trade, partly of motives of expediency. This legislation 
was never such as wise and powerful rulers may make for a 
nation, with the ulterior purpose of calling in the respect which 
the nation has for law to aid in raising its standard of right. 
The colonial and national laws on the slave-trade merely regis- 
/ tered, from time to time, the average public opinion concern- 
^ ing this traffic, and are therefore to be regarded as negative 
signs rather than as positive efforts. These signs were, from 
one point of view, evidences of moral awakening; they indicated 
slow, steady development of the idea that to steal even Negroes 
was wrong. From another point of view, these laws showed 
the fear of servile insurrection and the desire to ward off danger 
from the State ; again, they often indicated a desire to appear 
well before the civilized world, and to rid the " land of the 
free " of the paradox of slavery. Representing such motives, 
the laws varied all the way from mere regulating acts to absolute 
prohibitions. On the whole, these acts were poorly conceived, 
loosely drawn, and wretchedly enforced. The systematic viola- 
tion of the provisions of many of them led to a widespread 
belief that enforcement was, in the nature of the case, impos- 
sible ; and thus, instead of marking ground already won, they 
were too often sources of distinct moral deterioration. Cer- 
tainly the carnival of lawlessness that succeeded the Act of 
1807, and that which preceded final suppression in 1861, were 
glaring examples of the failure of the efforts to suppress the 
slave-trade by mere law. 



Sect. 96.] THE LESSON FOR AMERICANS. 197 

95. The Economic Movement. Economic measures against 
the trade were those which from the beginning had the best 
chance of success, but which were least tried. They included 
tariff measures; efforts to encourage the immigration of free 
laborers and the emigration of the slaves; measures for chang- 
ing the character of Southern industry; and, finally, plans to 
restore the economic balance which slavery destroyed, by rais- 
ing the condition of the slave to that of complete freedom and 
responsibility. Like the political efforts, these rested in part on 
a moral basis ; and, as legal enactments, they were also them- 
selves often political measures. They differed, however, from 
purely moral and political efforts, in having as a main motive 
the economic gain which a substitution of free for slave labor 
promised. 

The simplest form of such efforts was the revenue duty on 
slaves that existed in all the colonies. This developed into 
the prohibitive tariff, and into measures encouraging immigra- 
tion or industrial improvements. The colonization movement 
was another form of these efforts; it was inadequately con- 
ceived, and not altogether sincere, but it had a sound, although 
in this case impracticable, economic basis. The one great meas- 
ure which finally stopped the slave-trade forever was, naturally, 
the abolition of slavery, i. e., the giving to the Negro the right 
to sell his labor at a price consistent with his own welfare. 
The abolition of slavery itself, while due in part to direct 
moral appeal and political sagacity, was largely the result of 
the e conomic colla pse of the large-farm ing slave sy stenL^ 

96. The Lesson for Americans. It may be doubted if ever 
before such political mistakes as the slavery compromises of the 
Constitutional Convention had such serious results, and yet, by 
a succession of unexpected accidents, still left a nation in posi- 
tion to work out its destiny. No American can study the con- 
nection of slavery with United States history, and not devoutly 
pray that his country may never have a similar social problem 
to solve, until it shows more capacity for such work than it has 
shown in the past. It is neither profitable nor in accordance 
with scientific truth to consider that whatever the constitutional 
fathers did was right, or that slavery was a plague sent from God 



v/ 



1 98 THE ESSENTIALS IN THE STRUGGLE, [Chap. XII. 

and fated to be eliminated in due time. We must face the fact 
that this problem arose principally from the cupidity and care- 
lessness of our ancestors. It was the plain duty of the colonies ' 
to crush the trade and the system in its infancy : they preferred 
to enrich themselves on its profits. It was the plain duty of a 
Revolution based upon " Liberty " to take steps toward the 
abolition of slavery: it preferred promises to straightforward 
action. It was the plain duty of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion, in founding a new nation, to compromise with a threat- 
ening social evil only in case its settlement would thereby be 
postponed to a more favorable time : this was not the case in 
the slavery and the slave-trade compromises ; there never was 
a time in the history of America when the system had a 
slighter economic, political, and moral justification than in 
1787; and yet with this real, existent, growing evil before their 
eyes, a bargain largely of dollars and cents was allowed to 
open the highway that led straight to the Civil War. More- 
over, it was due to no wisdom and foresight on the part of the 
fathers that fortuitous circumstances made the result of that 
war what it was, nor was it due to exceptional philanthropy 
on the part of their descendants that that result included the 
abolition of slavery. 

With the faith of the nation broken at the very outset, the 
system of slavery untouched, and twenty years' respite given 
to the slave-trade to feed and foster it, there began, with 1787, 
that system of bargaining, truckling, and compromising with 
a moral, political, and economic monstrosity, which makes the 
history of our dealing with slavery in the first half of the 
nineteenth century so discreditable to a great people. Each 
generation sought to shift its load upon the next, and the 
burden rolled on, until a generation came which was both too 
weak and too strong to bear it longer. One cannot, to be 
sure, demand of whole nations exceptional moral foresight and 
heroism ; but a certain hard common-sense in facing the com- 
plicated phenomena of political life must be expected in every 
progressive people. In some respects we as a nation seem to 
lack this ; we have the somewhat inchoate idea that we are 
not destined to be harassed with great social questions, and 



Sect. 96.] THE LESSON FOR AMERICANS. 199 

that even if we are, and fail to answer them, the fault is with 
the question and not with us. Consequently we often con- 
gratulate ourselves more on getting rid of a problem than on 
solving it. Such an attitude is dangerous ; we have and shall 
have, as other peoples have had, critical, momentous, and 
pressing questions to answer. The riddle of the Sphinx may 
be postponed, it may be evasively answered now; sometime 
it must be fully answered. 

It behooves the United States, therefore, in the interest both 
of scientific truth and of future social reform, carefully to study 
such chapters of her history as that of the suppression of the 
slave-trade. The most obvious question which this study sug- 
gests is : How far in a State can a recognized moral wrong safely 
be compromised? And although this chapter of history can 
give us no definite answer suited to the ever-varying aspects of 
political life, yet it would seem to warn any nation from allowing, 
through carelessness and moral cowardice, any social evil to 
grow. No persons would have seen the Civil War with more 
surprise and horror than the Revolutionists of 1776; yet from 
the small and apparently dying institution of their day arose the 
walled and castled Slave-Power. From this we may conclude 
that it behooves nations as well as men to do things at the very 
moment when they ought to be done. 



APPENDIX A. 



A CHRONOLOGICAL CONSPECTUS OF COLONIAL 

AND STATE LEGISLATION RESTRICTING 

THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE. 

I641-1787. 



1641. Massachusetts : Limitations on Slavery. 

"Liberties of Forreiners & Strangers": 91. "There shall never 
be any bond slaverie villinage or Captivitie amongst vs, unles 
it be lawfull Captives taken in iust warres, & such strangers 
as willingly selle themselves or are sold to us. And those shall 
have all the liberties & Christian usages w^^ y^ law of god es- 
tablished in Jsraell concerning such p/=^"' doeth morally require. 
This exempts none from servitude who shall be Judged there to 
by Authoritie." 

"Capitall Laws": 10. "If any man stealeth aman or mankinde, 
he shall surely be put to death" (marginal reference, Exodus 
xxi. 16). Re-enacted in the codes of 1649, 1660, and 1672. 
Whitmore, Reprint of Colonial Laws of 1660, etc. (1889), 
PP- 52, 54, 7T-117. 

1642, April 3. New Netherland : Ten per cent Duty. 

" Ordinance of the Director and Council of New Netherland, im- 
posing certain Import and Export Duties." O'Callaghan, Laws 
of New Netherland (1868), p. 31. 
1642, Dec. 1. Connecticut : Man-Stealing made a Capital Offence. 

"Capitall Lawes," No. 10. Re-enacted in Ludlow's code, 1650. 
Colonial Records, L 77. 



202 APPENDIX A. 

1646, Nov. 4. Massachusetts : Declaration against Man-Stealing, 
Testimony of the General Court. For text, see above, page 30. 
Colonial Records, II. 168; III.84. 
1652, April 4. New Netherland : Duty of 15 Guilders. 

" Conditions and Regulations " of Trade to Africa. O'Callaghan, 
Laws of New Netherland, pp. 81, 127. 
1652, May 18-20. Rhode Island : Perpetual Slavery Prohibited. 

For text, see above, page 33. Colonial Records, I. 243. 
1655, Aug. 6. New Netherland : Ten per cent Export Duty. 

" Ordinance of the Director General and Council of New Nether- 
land, imposing a Duty on exported Negroes." O'Callaghan, 
Laws of New Netherland, p. igi. 
1664, March 12. Duke of York's Patent : Slavery Regulated. 

" Lawes establisht by the Authority of his Majesties Letters 
patents, granted to his Royall Highnes James Duke of Yorke 
and Albany ; Bearing Date the 1 2th Day of March in the Six- 
teenth year of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lord Kinge 
Charles the Second." First published at Long Island in 
1664. 
" Bond slavery " : " No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery 
villenage or Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged 
thereunto by Authority, or such as willingly have sould, or 
shall sell themselves," etc. Apprenticeship allowed. Charter 
to William Penn^ and Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania 
(1879), pp. 3, 12. 
1672, October. Connecticut : Law against Man-Stealing. 

" The General Laws and Liberties of Conecticut Colonic." 
"Capital Laws": 10. "If any Man stealeth a Man or Man 
kinde, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall be 
put to death. Exod. 21. 16." Laws of Connecticut, 1672 
(repr. 1865), p. 9. 
1676, March 3. V/est New Jersey : Slavery Prohibited (?). 

"The Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Free- 
holders and Inhabitants of the Province of West New-Jersey, 
in America." 
Chap. XXIII. "That in all publick Courts of Justice for 
Tryals of Causes, Civil or Criminal, any Person or Persons, 
Inhabitants of the said Province, may freely come into, and at- 
tend the said Courts, . . . that all and every Person and Per- 
sons Inhabiting the said Province, shall, as far as in us lies, be 



APPENDIX A. 203 

free from Oppression and Slavery." Learning and Spicer, 
Grants^ Co?icessio?is^ etc., pp. 382, 398. 
1688, Feb. 18. Pennsylvania : First Protest of Friends against 
Slave-Trade. 
"At Monthly Meeting of Germantown Friends." For text, see 
above, page 21. Facsimile Copy (1880). 

1695, May. Maryland : 10s. Duty Act. 

" An Act for the laying an Imposition upon Negroes, Slaves, and 
White Persons imported into this Province." Re-enacted in 
1696, and included in Acts of 1699 and 1704. Bacon, Laivs, 
1695, ch. ix. ; 1696, ch. vii. ; 1699, ch. xxiii. ; 1704, ch. ix. 

1696. Pennsylvania : Protest of Friends. 

" That Friends be careful not to encourage the bringing in of any 
more negroes." Bettle, Notices of Negro Slavery, in Penn. 
Hist. Soc. Mem. (1864), I. 383. 

1698, Oct. 8. South Carolina : "White Servants Encouraged. 

" An Act for the Encouragement of the Importation of White 
Servants." 

" Whereas, the great number of negroes which of late have been 
imported into this Collony may endanger the safety thereof 
if speedy care be not taken and encouragement given for the 
importation of white servants." 

§ I. ^13 are to be given to any ship master for every male white 
servant (Irish excepted), between sixteen and forty years, 
whom he shall bring into Ashley river; and £\2 for boys 
between twelve and sixteen years. Every servant must have 
at least four years to serve, and every boy seven years. 

§ 3. Planters are to take servants in proportion of one to every 
six male Negroes above sixteen years. 

§ 5. Ser\'ants are to be distributed by lot. 

§ 8. This act to continue three years. Cooper, Statutes, II. 153. 

1699, April. Virginia : 20.'5. Duty Act. 

** An act for laying an imposition upon servants and slaves 
imported into this country, towards building the Capitoll." 
For three years; continued in August, 1701, and April, 1704. 
Hening, Statjites, III. 193, 212, 225. 
1703, May 6. South Carolina : Duty Act. 

" An Act for the laying an Imposition on Furrs, Skinns, Liquors 
and other Goods and Merchandize, Imported into and Ex- 
ported out of this part of this Province, for the raising of a 



204 APPENDIX A. 

Fund of Money towards defraying the publick charges and 
expenses of this Province, and paying the debts due for the 
Expedition against St. Augustine." \q>s. on Africans and 20s. 
on others. Cooper, Statutes, II. 201. 

1704, October. Maryland : 20s. Duty Act. 

" An Act imposing Three Pence per Gallon on Rum and Wine, 
Brandy and Spirits ; and Twenty Shillings per Poll for Negroes ; 
..for raising a Supply to defray the Public Charge of this Prov- 
ince ; and Twenty Shillings per Poll on Irish Servants, to 
prevent the importing too great a Number of Irish Papists into 
this Province." Revived in 1708 and 1712. Bacon, Laws, 
1704, ch. xxxiii. ; 1708, ch. xvi. ; 1712, ch. xxii. 

1705, Jan. 12. Pennsylvania : 10s. Duty Act. 

" An Act for Raising a Supply of Two pence half penny per Pound 
& ten shillings per Head. Also for Granting an Impost & 
laying on Sundry Liquors & negroes Imported into this 
Province for the Support of Governmt., & defraying the neces- 
sary Publick Charges in the Administration thereof." Colonial 
Records (1852), II. 232, No. 50. 
1705, October. Virginia : 6d. Tax on Imported Slaves. 

" An act for raising a publick revenue for the better support of the 
Government," etc. Similar tax by Act of October, 1710. 
Hening, Statutes, III. 344, 490. 
1705, October. Virginia : 20s, Duty Act. 

" An act for laying an Imposition upon Liquors and Slaves." For 
two years; re-enacted in October, 17 10, for three years, and 
in October, 1712. Ibid., III. 229, 482 ; IV. 30. 
1705, Dec. 5. Massachusetts : £4 Duty Act. 

" An act for the Better Preventing of a Spurious and Mixt Issue," 
etc. 

§ 6. On and after May i, 1706, every master importing Negroes 
shall enter his number, name, and sex in the impost office, and 
insert them in the bill of lading ; he shall pay to the com- 
missioner and receiver of the impost ^"4 per head for every 
such Negro. Both master and ship are to be security for the 
payment of the same. 

§ 7. If the master neglect to enter the slaves, he shall forfeit ^8 
for each Negro, one-half to go to the informer and one-half to 
the government. 

§ 8. If any Negro imported shall, within twelve months, be ex- 



APPENDIX A. 205 

ported and sold in any other plantation, and a receipt from the 
collector there be shown, a drawback of the whole duty will be 
allowed. Like drawback will be allowed a purchaser, if any 
Negro sold die within six weeks after importation. Mass. 
Province Lcnvs, 1705-6, ch. 10. 

1708, February. Rhode Island : £3 Duty Act. 

No title or text found. Slightly amended by Act of April, 170S ; 
strengthened by Acts of February, 1712, and July 5, 1715 ; pro- 
ceeds disposed of by Acts of July, 17 15, October, 17 17, and 
June, 1729. Colonial Records, \N. 34, 131-5, 13S, 143, 191-3, 
225, 423-4- 

1709, Sept, 24. New York : £3 Duty Act. 

" An Act for Laying a Duty on the Tonnage of Vessels and Slaves." 
A duty of £1 ^^'^s laid on slaves not imported directly from 
their native country. Continued by Act of Oct. 30, 17 10. 
Acts of Assetnbly, 1691-1718, pp. 97, 125, 134; Laws of New 
York, 1 691-17 73, p. Zt^. 

1710, Dec. 28. Pennsylvania : 403. Duty Act. 

'' An impost Act, laying a duty on Negroes, wine, rum and other 
spirits, cyder and vessels." Repealed by order in Council 
Feb. 20, 1 7 13. Carey and Bioren, Laws, L 82 ; Battle, Notices 
of Negro Slavery, in Penn. Hist. Soc. Mem. (1864), L 415. 

1710. Virginia : £5 Duty Act. 

" Intended to discourage the importation " of slaves. Title and 
text not found. Disallowed (?). Governor Spotswood to the 
Lords of Trade, in Va. Hist. Soc. Coll.. New Series, L 52. 

1711, July-Aug. New York : Act of 1709 Strengthened. 

" An Act for the more effectual putting in Execution an Act of 
General Assembly, Intituled, An Act for Laying a Duty on the 
Tonnage of Vessels and Slaves." Acts of Assembly, 1691-1 718, 
P- 134- 
1711, December. New York : Bill to Increase Duty. 

Bill for laying a further duty on slaves. Passed Assembly; lost 
in Council. Doc. rel. Col. Hist. Nezv York, V. 293. 
1711. Pennsylvania : Testimony of Quakers. 

"... the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia, on a representation from 
the Quarterly Meeting of Chester, that the buying and encour- 
aging the importation of negroes was still practised by some 
of the members of the society, again repeated and enforced 
the observance of the advice issued in 1696, and further directed 



206 APPENDIX A. 

all merchants and factors to write to their correspondents and 
discourage their sending any more negroes." Bettle, Notices of 
Negro Slavery^ in Petvi. Hist. Soc. Mem. (1864), I. 3S6. 

1712, June 7. Pennsylvania : Prohibitive (?) Duty Act. 

" A supplementary Act to an act, entituled, An impost act, laying 
a duty on Negroes, rum," etc. Disallowed by Great Britain, 
17 13. Carey and Bioren, Lazvs, I. 87, 88. Cf. Colonial Records 
(1S52), 11. 553. 

1712, June 7. Pennsylvania : Prohibitive Duty Act. 

*' An act to prevent the Importation of Negroes and Indians into 

this Province." 
"Whereas Divers Plots and Insurrections have frequently hap- 
pened, not only in the Islands, but on the Main Land of 
America, by Negroes, which have been carried on so far that 
several of the Inliabitants have been thereby barbarously Mur- 
thered, an instance whereof we have lately had in our neigh- 
boring Colony of Ne7a York. And whereas the Importation of 
Indian Slaves hath given our Neighboring Indians in this 
Province some umbrage of Suspicion and Dis-satisfaction. For 
Prevention of all which for the future, 
" Be it Enacted . . . , That from and after the Publication of this 
Act, upon the Importation of any Negro or Indian, by Land or 
Water, into this Province, there shall be paid by the Importer, 
Owner or Possessor thereof, the sum of Twenty Founds per 
head, for every Negro or Indian so imported or brought in 
(except Negroes directly brought in from the West India Islands 
before the first Day of the Month called August next) unto the 
proper Officer herein after named, or that shall be appointed 
according to the Directions of this Act to receive the same," 
etc. Disallowed by Great Britain, 17 13. Laws of Fentisyl- 
vania, collected, etc. (ed. 17 14), p. 165; Colojiial Records 
(1852), II. 553; Burge, Commentaries, I. 737, note; Penn. 
Archives, I. 162. 

1713, March 11. New Jersey : £10 Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a Duty on Negro, Indian and Mulatto Slaves, 

imported and brought into this Province." 
" Be it Enacted . . . , That every Person or Persons that shall here- 
after Import or bring in, or cause to be imported or brought 
into this Province, any Negro Indian or Mulatto Slave or 
Slaves, every such Person or Persons so importing or bringing 



APPENDIX A. 207 

in, or causing to be imported or brought in, such Slave or 
Slaves, shall enter with one of the Collectors of her Majestie's 
Customs of this Province, every such Slave or Slaves, within 
Twenty Four Hours after such Slave or Slaves is so Imported, 
and pay the Sum of Ten Pounds Money as appointed by her 
Majesty's Proclamation, for each Slave so imported, or give 
sufficient Security that the said Sum of Teti Pounds^ Money 
aforesaid, shall be well and truly paid within three Months 
after such Slave or Slaves are so imported, to the Collector or 
his Deputy of the District into which such Slave or Slaves 
shall be imported, for the use of her Majesty, her Heirs and 
Successors, toward the Support of the Government of this 
Province." For seven years ; violations incur forfeiture and 
sale of slaves at auction ; slaves brought from elsewhere than 
Africa to pay ^10, etc. Lazvs and Acts of Nezv Jersey^ 1703- 
1717 (ed. 1717), P- 43 ; N- J- Archives, ist Series, XHI. 
516, 517, 520, 522, 523, 527, 532, 541. 
1713, March 26. Great Britain and Spain : The Assiento. 

"The Assiento, or Contract for allowing to the Subjects of Great 
Britain the Liberty of importing Negroes into the Spanish 
America. Signed by the Catholick King at Madrid, the 26th 
Day of March, 1713." 

Art. I. "First then to procure, by this means, a mutual and 
reciprocal advantage to the sovereigns and subjects of both 
crowns, her British majesty does offer and undertake for the 
persons, whom she shall name and appoint. That they shall 
oblige and charge themselves with the bringing into the West- 
Indies of America, belonging to his catholick majesty, in the 
space of the said 30 years, to commence on the ist day of May, 
17 13, and determine on the like day, which will be in the year 
1743, viz. 144000 negroes, Piezas de India, of both sexes, and 
of all ages, at the rate of 4S00 negroes, Piezas de India, in each 
of the said 30 years, with this condition. That the persons 
who shall go to the West-Indies to take care of the concerns of 
the assiento, shall avoid giving any offence, for in such case they 
shall be prosecuted and punished in the same manner, as they 
would have been in Spain, if the like misdemeanors had been 
committed there." 

Art. II. Assientists to pay a duty of 2)Z pieces of eight {Escudos) 
for each Negro, which should include all duties. 



208 APPENDIX A. 

Art. III. Assientists to advance to his Catholic Majesty 200,000 

pieces of eight, which should be returned at the end of the first 

twenty years, etc. John Almon, Treaties 0/ Peace, Allia?ice, and 

Comfnerce, between Great-Britain atid other Powers (London, 

1772), I. 83-107. 

1713 July 13. Great Britain and Spain : Treaty of Utrecht. 

" Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the most serene and 
most potent princess Anne, by the grace of God, Queen of 
Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. 
and the most serene and most potent Prince Philip V. the 
Catholick King of Spain, concluded at Utrecht, the -^^ Day 

of July, 1713-" 
Art. XII. "The Catholick King doth furthermore hereby give 
and grant to her Britannick majesty, and to the company of 
her subjects appointed for that purpose, as well the subjects 
of Spain, as all others, being excluded, the contract for intro- 
ducing negroes into several parts of the dominions of his 
Catholick Majesty in America, commonly called el Pacto de el 
Assiento de JVegros, for the space of thirty years successively, 
beginning from the first day of the month of May, in the year 
1 713, with the same conditions on which the French enjoyed 
it, or at any time might or ought to enjoy the same, together 
with a tract or tracts of Land to be allotted by the said Catho- 
lick King, and to be granted to the company aforesaid, com- 
monly called la Compania de el Assieftto, in some convenient 
place on the river of Plata, (no duties or revenues being pay- 
able by the said company on that account, during the time of 
the abovementioned contract, and no longer) and this settle- 
ment of the said society, or those tracts of land, shall be 
proper and sufficient for planting, and sowing, and for feeding 
cattle for the subsistence of those who are in the service of the 
said company, and of their negroes ; and that the said negroes 
may be there kept in safety till they are sold ; and moreover, 
that the ships belonging to the said company may come close 
to land, and be secure from any danger. But it shall always be 
lawful for the Catholick King, to appoint an officer in the said 
place or settlement, who may take care that nothing be done 
or practised contrary to his royal interests. And all who man- 
age the affairs of the said company there, or belong to it, shall 
be subject to the inspection of the aforesaid officer, as to all 



APPENDIX A. 209 

matters relating to the tracts of land abovementioned. But 
if any doubts, difficulties, or controversies, should arise between 
the said officer and the managers for the said company, they 
shall be referred to the determination of the governor of 
Buenos Ayres. The Catholick King has been likewise pleased 
to grant to the said company, several other extraordinary ad- 
vantages, which are more fully and amply explained in the con- 
tract of the Assiento, which was made and concluded at Madrid, 
the 26th day of the month of March, of this present year 17 13. 
Which contract, or Assiento de JVegros, and all the clauses, con- 
ditions, privileges and immunities contained therein, and which 
are not contrary to this article, are and shall be deemed, and 
taken to be, part of this treaty, in the same manner as if they 
had been here inserted word for word." John Almon, Treaties 
of Peace, Alliance, and Commerce, between Great-Britain and 
other Powers, I. 168-80. 
1714, Feb. 18. South Carolina: Duty on American Slaves. 

"An Act for laying an additional duty on all Negro Slaves im- 
ported into this Province from any part of America." Title 
quoted in Act of 1719, § 30, q. v. 

1714, Dec. 18. South Carolina ; Prohibitive Duty. 

"An additional Act to an Act entitled 'An Act for the better 
Ordering and Governing Negroes and all other Slaves.' " 

§ 9. " And whereas, the number of negroes do extremely increase 
in this Province, and through the afflicting providence of God, 
the w^hite persons do not proportionably multiply, by reason 
whereof, the safety of the said Province is greatly endangered ; 
for the prevention of which for the future, 

" Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That all negro 
slaves from twelve years old and upwards, imported into this 
part of this Province from any part of Africa, shall pay such 
additional duties as is hereafter named, that is to say : — that 
every merchant or other person whatsoever, who shall, six 
months after the ratification of this Act, import any negro 
slaves as aforesaid, shall, for every such slave, pay unto the 
public receiver for the time being, (within thirty days after such 
importation,) the sum of two pounds current money of this 
Province." Cooper, Statutes, VII. 365. 

1715, Feb. 18. South Carolina : Duty on American Negroes. 

"An additional Act to an act entitled an act for raising the sufn of 

14 



210 APPENDIX A. 

;^2000, of and from the estates real and personal of the in- 
habitants of this Province, ratified in open Assembly the \Zth 
day of December^ 1714 ; arid for laying an additional duty on 
all Negroe slaves imported into this Province from any part of 
America." Title only given. Grimkd, Public Laws, p. xvi, 
No. 362. 
1715, May 28. Pennsylvania : £5 Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a Duty on Negroes imported into this 
province." Disallowed by Great Britain, 17 19. Acts and 
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1715, p. 270 ; Colofiial Records (1852), 
III. 75-6; Chalmers, Opinions, II. 118. 

1715, June 3. Maryland : 203. Duty Act. 

" An Act laying an Imposition on Negroes . . • ; and also on 
Irish Servants, to prevent the importing too great a Number 
of Irish Papists into this Province." Supplemented April 23, 
1 735, and July 25, 1754. Compleat Collection of the Laws of 
Maryland itdi. 1727), p. 157 ; Bacon, Laws, 1715, ch. xxxvi. 
§ 8 ; 1735, cl"*- vi- §§ 1-3 ; ^^i^ cf Assembly, 1754, p. 10. 

1716, June 30. South Carolina : £3 Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying an Imposition on Liquors, Goods and Merchan- 
dizes, Imported into and Exported out of this Province, for the 
raising of a Fund of Money towards the defraying the publick 
charges and expences of the Government." A duty of £1 was 
laid on African slaves, and ^30 on American slaves. Cooper, 
Statutes, II. 649. 

1716. New York : 5 oz. and 10 oz. plate Duty Act. 

" An Act to Oblige all Vessels Trading into this Colony (except 
such as are therein excepted) to pay a certain Duty ; and for 
the further Explanation and rendring more Effectual certain 
Clauses in an Act of General Assembly of this Colony, Intit- 
uled, An Act by which a Duty is laid on Negroes, and other 
Slaves, imported into this Colony." The act referred to is not 
to be found. Acts of Assembly, 1691-1718, p. 224. 

1717, June 8. Maryland : Additional 203. Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying an Additional Duty of Twenty Shillings Current 
Money per Poll on all Irish Servants, . . . also, the Addi- 
tional Duty of Twenty Shillings Current Money per Poll on all 
Negroes, for raising a Fund for the Use of Publick Schools," 
etc. Continued by Act of 172S. Compleat Collection of the 
Laws of Maryland (ed. 1727), p. 191 ; Bacon, Laws, 1728, 
ch. viii. 



APPENDIX A. 211 

1717, Dec. 11. South Carolina : Prohibitive Duty. 

' " A further additional Act to an Act entitled An Act for the better 
ordering and governing of Negroes and all other Slaves ; and 
to an additional Act to an Act entitled An Act for the better 
ordering and governing of Negroes and all other Slaves." 

§ 3. " And whereas, the great importation of negroes to this 
Province, in proportion to the white inhabitants of the same, 
whereby the future safety of this Province will be greatly 
endangered ; for the prevention whereof, 

''Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all negro slaves 
of any age or condition whatsoever, imported or otherwise 
brought into this Province, from any part of the world, shall 
pay such additional duties as is hereafter named, that is to 
say : — that every merchant or other person whatsoever, who 
shall, eighteen months after the ratification of this Act, import 
any negro slave as aforesaid, shall, for every such slave, pay 
unto the public receiver for the time being, at the time of each 
importation, over and above all the duties already charged on 
negroes, by any law in force in this Province, the additional 
sum of forty pounds current money of this Pi-ovince," etc. 

§ 4. This section on duties to be in force for four years after 
ratification, and thence to the end of the next session of the 
General Assembly. Cooper, Statutes, VII. 368. 

1718, Feb. 22. Pennsylvania : Duty Act. 

" An Act for continuing a duly on Negroes brought into this 
province." Carey and Bioren, Laws, I. 118. 

1719, March 20. South Carolina : £10 Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying an Imposition on Negroes, Liquors, and other 
Goods and Merchandizes, imported, and exported out of this 
Province, for the raising of a Fund of Money towards the de- 
fraying the Publick Charges and Expences of this Government ; 
as also to Repeal several Duty Acts, and Clauses and Paragraphs 
of Acts, as is herein mentioned." This repeals former duty 
acts (e. g. that of 17 14), and lays a duty of ^ 10 on African slaves, 
^i"'^.^30 or> American slaves. Cooper, Statutes, III. 56. 
1721, Sept. 21. South Carolina : £10 Duty Act. 

" An Act for granting to His Majesty a Duty and Imposition on 
Negroes, Liquors, and other Goods and Merchandize, im- 
ported into and exported out of this Province." This was a 
continuation of the Act of 1719. Ibid., III. 159. 



212 APPENDIX A. 

1722, Feb. 23. South Carolina : £10 Duty Act. 

" An Act for Granting to His Majesty a Duty and Imposition on 
Negroes, Liquors, and other Goods and Merchandizes, for the 
use of the PubHclc of this Province." 

§ I. "... on all negro slaves imported from Africa directly, or any 
other place whatsoever, Spanish negroes excepted, if above ten 
years of age, ten pounds ; on all negroes under ten years of 
age, (sucking children excepted) five pounds," etc. 

§ 3. " And whereas, it has proved to the detriment of some of the 
inhabitants of this Province, who have purchased negroes 
imported here from the Colonies of America, that they were 
either transported thence by the Courts of justice, or sent off 
by private persons for their ill behaviour and misdemeanours, 
to prevent which for the future, 

^' Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all negroes im- 
ported in this Province from any part of America, after the 
ratification of this Act, above ten years of age, shall pay unto 
the Publick Receiver as a duty, the sum of fifty pounds, and 
all such negroes under the age of ten years, (sucking children 
excepted) the sum of five pounds of like current money, 
unless the owner or agent shall produce a testimonial under 
the hand and seal of any Notary Publick of the Colonies or 
plantations from whence such negroes came last, before whom 
it was proved upon oath, that the same are new negroes, and 
have not been six months on shoar in any part of America," 
etc. 

§ 4. "■ And whereas, the importation of Spanish Indians, mustees, 
negroes, and mulattoes, may be of dangerous consequence 
by inticing the slaves belonging to the inhabitants of this 
Province to desert with them to the Spanish settlements 
near us, 

" Be it therefore enacted That all such Spanish negroes, Indians, 
mustees, or mulattoes, so imported into this Province, shall 
pay unto the Publick Receiver, for the use of this Province, a 
duty of one hundred and fifty pounds, current money of this 
Province." 

§ 19. Rebate of three-fourths of the duty allowed in case of re- 
exportation in six months. 

§ 31. Act of 1 72 1 repealed. 

§ 36. This act to continue in force for three years, and thence to 



APPENDIX A. 213 

the end of the next session of the General Assembly, and no 
longer. Cooper, Statutes, III. 193. 

1722, May 12. Pennsylvania : Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a duty on Negroes imported into this province." 
Carey and Bioren, Laws, I. 165. 

1723, May. Virginia : Duty Act. 

"An Act for laying a Duty on Liquors and Slaves." Title only; 

repealed by proclamation Oct. 27, 1724. Hening, Statutes, 

IV. iiS. 
1723, June 18. Rhode Island : Back Duties Collected. 

Resolve appointing the attorney-general to collect back duties on 

Negroes. Colonial Records, IV. 330. 
1726, March 5. Pennsylvania : £10 Duty Act. 

"An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this province." 

Carey and Bioren, Laws, I. 214; Bettle, Notices of Negro 

Slavery, in Petin. Hist. Soc. Mem. (1S64), I. 388. 

1726, March 5. Pennsylvania : Duty Act. 

"An Act for laying a duty on Negroes imported into this province." 
Carey and Bioren, Laias, 1. 213. 

1727, February. Virginia : Prohibitive Duty Act (?). 

" An Act for laying a Duty on Slaves imported ; and for appointing 
a Treasurer." Title only found ; the duty was probably pro- 
hibitive ; it was enacted with a suspending clause, and was 
not assented to by the king. Hening, Statutes, IV. 182. 

1728, Aug. 31. New York : £2 and £4 Duty Act. 

"' An Act to repeal some Parts and to continue and enforce other 
Parts of the Act therein mentioned, and for granting several 
Duties to His Majesty, for supporting His Government in the 
Colony of New York" from Sept. i, 1728, to Sept. i, 1733. 
Same duty continued by Act of 1732. Laws of Ne^a York, 
1691-1773, pp. 148, 171 ; Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New York, VI. 
32, ZZ, 34' 37: 38- 

1728, Sept. 14. Mar.sachusetts : Act of 1705 Strengthened. 

" An Act more effectually to secure the Duty on the Importation 
of Negros." For seven years ; substantially the same law re- 
enacted Jan. 26, 1738, for ten years. Mass. Province Laws, 
1728-9, ch. 16; 1738-9, ch. 27. 

1729, May 10. Pennsylvania : 403. Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a Duty on Negroes imported into this Province." 
Laws of Peimsylvania (ed. 1742), p. 354, ch. 287. 



214 APPENDIX A. 

1732, May. Rhode Island : Repeal of Act of 1712. 

"Whereas, there was an act made and passed by the General 
Assembly, at their session, held at Newport, the 27th day of 
February, 1711 [O. S., N. S. = 1712], entitled 'An Act for 
laying a duty on negro slaves that shall be imported into 
this colony,' and this Assembly being directed by His 
Majesty's instructions to repeal the same ; — 

*' Therefore, be it enacted by the General Assembly . . . that the 
said act . . . be, and it is hereby repealed, made null and 
void, and of none effect for the future." If this is the act 
mentioned under Act of 1708, the title is wrongly cited ; if not, 
the act is lost. Colonial Records, IV. 471. 
1732, May. Virginia : Five per cent Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a Duty upon Slaves, to be paid by the Buyers." 
For four years ; continued and slightly amended by Acts of 
1734) 1736, 1738) 1742, and 1745; revived February, 1752, 
and continued by Acts of November, 1753, February, 1759, 
November, 1766, and 1769; revived (or continued ?) by Act 
of February, 1772, until 1778. Hening, Statutes, IV. 317, 
394, 469; V. 28, 160, 318; VI. 217,353; VII. 281; VIII. 

i9o» 336, 530- 
1734, November. Nev7 York : Duty Act. 

''An act to lay a duty on Negroes & a tax on the Slaves 
therein mentioned during the time and for the uses within 
mentioned." The tax was i^. yearly per slave. Doc. rel. Col. 
Hist. New York, VI. 38. 

1734, Nov. 28. New York : £2 and £4 (?) Duty Act. 

" An Act to lay a Duty on the Goods, and a Tax on the Slaves 
therein mentioned, during the Time, and for the Uses men- 
tioned in the same." Possibly there were two acts this year. 
Laws of Ne7v York, 1691-1773, p. 186; Doc. rel. Col. Hist. 
New York, VI. 27. 

1735. Georgia : Prohibitive Act. 

An " act for rendering the colony of Georgia more defensible by 
prohibiting the importation and use of black slaves or negroes 
into the same." W. B. Stevens, History of Georgia, I. 3 1 1 ; 
[B. Martyn], Account of the Progress of Georgia (174O. 
pp. 9-10 ; Prince Hoare, Memoirs of Granville Sharp (Lon- 
don, 1820), p. 157. 



APPENDIX A. 215 

1740, April 5. South Carolina : £100 Prohibitive Duty Act. 

" An Act for the better strengthening of this Province, by granting 
to His Majesty certain taxes and impositions on the purchasers 
of Negroes imported," etc. The duty on slaves from Amer- 
ica was ;^i5o. Continued to 1744. Cooper, Statutes^ III. 
556. Cf. Abstract Evidence on Slave-Trade before Committee 
of House of Commons, 1790-91 (London, i79i),p. 150. 

1740, May. Virginia : Additional Five per cent Duty Act. 

" An Act, for laying an additional Duty upon Slaves, to be paid by 
the Buyer, for encouraging persons to enlist in his Majesty's 
service : And for preventing desertion." To continue until 
July I, 1744. Hening, Statutes, V. 92. 

1751, June 14. South Carolina : White Servants Encouraged. 

" An Act for the better strengthening of this Province, by granting 
to His Majesty certain Taxes and Impositions on the pur- 
chasers of Negroes and other slaves imported, and for appro- 
priating the same to the uses therein mentioned, and for grant- 
ing to His Majesty a duty on Liquors and other Goods and 
INIerchandize, for the uses therein mentioned, and for exempt- 
ing the purchasers of Negroes and other slaves imported from 
payment of the Tax, and the Liquors and other Goods and 
Merchandize from the duties imposed by any former Act or 
Acts of the General Assembly of this Province." 
" Whereas, the best way to prevent the mischiefs that may be 
attended by the great importation of negroes into this Prov- 
ince, will be to establish a method by which such importation 
should be made a necessary means of introducing a propor- 
tionable number of white inhabitants into the same ; therefore 
for the effectual raising and appropriating a fund sufficient for 
the better settling of this Province with white inhabitants, we. 
his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the House of 
Assembly now met in General Assembly, do cheerfully give 
and grant unto the King's most excellent Majesty, his heirs 
and successors, the several taxes and impositions hereinafter 
mentioned, for the uses and to be raised, appropriated, paid 
and applied as is hereinafter directed and appointed, and not 
otherwise, and do humbly pray his most sacred Majesty that it 
may be enacted, 
§ I. ^^ And be it enacted, by his Excellency James Glen, Esquire, 
Governor in chief and Captain General in and over the Prov- 



1 6 APPENDIX A. 

ince of South Carolina, by and with the advice and consent of 
his Majesty's honorable Council, and the House of Assembly 
of the said Province, and by the authority of the same, That 
from and immediately after the passing of this Act, there shall 
be imposed on and paid by all and every the inhabitants of 
this Province, and other person and persons whosoever, first 
purchasing any negro or other slave, hereafter to be im- 
ported, a certain tax or sum of ten pounds current money for 
every such negro and other slave of the height of four feet 
two inches and upwards ; and for every one under that 
height, and above three feet two inches, the sum of five pounds 
like money ; and for all under three feet two inches, (sucking 
children excepted) two pounds and ten shillings like money, 
which every such inhabitant of this Province, and other person 
and persons whosoever shall so purchase or buy as aforesaid, 
which said sums of ten pounds and five pounds and two 
pounds and ten shillings respectively, shall be paid by such 
purchaser for every such slave, at the time of his, her or their 
purchasing of the same, to the public treasurer of this Province 
for the time being, for the uses hereinafter mentioned, set down 
and appointed, under pain of forfeiting all and every such 
negroes and slaves, for which the said taxes or impositions 
shall not be paid, pursuant to the directions of this Act, to be 
sued for, recovered and applied in the manner hereinafter 
directed." 
§ 6. '^ And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That 
the said tax hereby imposed on negroes and other slaves, paid 
or to be paid by or on the behalf of the purchasers as aforesaid, 
by virtue of this Act, shall be applied and appropriated as fol- 
loweth, and to no other use, or in any other manner whatever, 
(that is to say) that three-fifth parts (the whole into five equal 
parts to be divided) of the net sum arising by the said tax, for 
and during the term of five years from the time of passing this 
Act, be applied and the same is hereby applied for payment of 
the sum of six pounds proclamation money to every poor for- 
eign protestant whatever from Europe, or other poor protestant 
(his Majesty's subject) who shall produce a certificate under 
the seal of any corporation, or a certificate under the hands of 
the minister and church-wardens of any parish, or the minister 
and elders of any church, meeting or congregation in Great 



APPENDIX A. 217 

Britain or Ireland, of the good character of such poor protes- 
tant, above the age of twelve and under the age of fifty years, 
and for payment of the sum of three pounds like money, to 
every such poor protestant under the age of twelve and above 
the age of two years ; who shall come into this Province within 
the first three years of the said term of five years, and settle on 
any part of the southern frontier lying between Pon Pon and 
Savannah rivers, or in the central parts of this Province," etc. 
For the last two years the bounty is ^4 and ^2. 

§ 7. After the expiration of this term of five years, the sum is 
appropriated to the protestants settling anywhere in the State, 
and the bounty is ^2 13^-. \d., and £\ Gjt. S^/. 

§ 8. One other fifth of the tax is appropriated to survey lands, 
and the remaining fifth as a bounty for ship-building, and for 
encouraging the settlement of ship-builders. 

§ 14. Rebate of three-fourths of the tax allowed in case of re- 
exportation of the slaves in six months. 

§ 16. '^ And be it furihcr enactcdhy \\\t authority aforesaid, That 
every person or persons who after the passing this Act shall 
purchase any slave or slaves v.'hich shall be brought or im- 
ported into this Province, either by land or water, from any of 
his Majesty's plantations or colonies in America, that have 
been in any such colony or plantation for the space of six 
months ; and if such slave or slaves have not been so long in 
such colony or plantation, the importer shall be obliged to 
make oath or produce a proper certificate thereof, or otherwise 
every such importer shall pay a further tax or imposition of fifty 
pounds, over and besides the tax hereby imposed for every such 
slave which he or they shall purchase as aforesaid." Actual 
settlers bringing slaves are excepted. 

§ 41. This act to continue in force ten years from its passage, and 
thence to the end of the next session of the General Assembly, 
and no longer. Cooper, Statutes, III. 739. 
1753, Dec. 12. New ITork : 5 oz. and 10 oz. plate Duty Act. 

'• An Act for granting to His Majesty the several Duties and Ini- 
positions, on Goods, Wares and Merchandizes imported into 
this Colony, therein mentioned." Annually continued until 
1767, or perhaps until 1774. Laws of JVew York, 1752-62, 
p. 21, ch. xxvii. ; Doc. rd. Col. Hist. New York, VII. 907 ; 
VIII. 452. 



2l8 APPENDIX A. 

1754, February. Virginia : Additional Five per cent Duty Act. 

'•An Act for the encouragement and protection of the settlers 
upon the waters of the Mississippi." For three years ; con- 
tinued in 1755 and 1763; revived in 1772, and continued 
until 1778. Hening, Statutes, VI. 417, 46S ; VII. 639; 
VIII. 530. 

1754, July 25. Maryland : Additional 10s. Duty Act. 

'•An Act for his Majesty's Service." Bacon, Lmvs, 1754, ch. ix. 

1755, May. Virginia : Additional Ten per cent Duty Act. 

" An act to explain an act, intituled, An act for raising the sum of 
twenty thousand pounds, for the protection of his majesty's 
subjects, against the insults and encroachments of the French ; 
and for other purposes therein mentioned," 

§ 10. "... from and after the passing of this act, there shall be 
levied and paid to our sovereign lord the king, his heirs and 
successors, for all slaves imported, or brought into this colony 
and dominion for sale, either by land or water, from any part 
[port] or place whatsoever, by the buyer, or purchaser, after 
the rate of ten per centum, on the amount of each respective 
purchase, over and above the several duties already laid on 
slaves, imported as aforesaid, by an act or acts of Assembly, 
now subsisting, and also over and above the duty laid by " the 
Act of 1754. Repealed by Act of May, 1760, § n, " . . . inas- 
much as the same prevents the importation of slaves, and 
thereby lessens the fund arising from the duties upon slaves." 
Hening, Statutes, VI. 461 ; VII. 363. Cf. Dinwiddie Papers, 
II. 86. 

1756, March 22. Maryland : Additional 20s. Duty Act. 

" An Act for granting a Supply of Forty Thousand Pounds, for his 
Majesty's Service," etc. For five years. Bacon, Laws, 1756, 
ch. V. 

1757, April. Virginia : Additional Ten per cent Duty Act. 

" An Act for granting an aid to his majesty for the better pro- 
tection of this colony, and for other purposes therein men- 
tioned." 

§ 22. "... from and after the ninth day of July, one thou- 
sand seven hundred and fifty-eight, during the term of seven 
years, there shall be paid for all slaves imported into this col- 
ony, for sale, either by land or water, from any port or place 
whatsoever, by the buyer or purchaser thereof, after the rate of 



APPENDIX A. 219 

ten per centum on the amount of each respective purchase, 
over and above the several duties already laid upon slaves 
imported, as aforesaid, by any act or acts of Assembly now sub- 
sisting in this colony," etc. Repealed by Act of March, 1761, 
§ 6, as being " found very inconvenient." Hening, Statutes^ 

VII. 69, 383. 

1759, November. Virginia : Twenty per cent Duty Act. 

" An Act to oblige the persons bringing slaves into this colony 
from Maryland, Carolina, and the West-Indies, for their own 
use, to pay a duty." 

§ I. ". . . from and after the passing of this act, there shall be paid 
... for all slaves imported or brought into this colony and 
dominion from Maryland, North-Carolina, or any other place 
in America, by the owner or importer thereof, after the rate of 
twenty per centum on the amount of each respective pur- 
chase," etc. This act to continue until April 20, 1767 ; con- 
tinued in 1766 and 1769, until 1773 ; altered by Act of 1772, 
q. V. Ibid., VII. 338 ; VIII. 191, ii(>. 

1760, South Carolina : Total Prohibition. 

Text not found ; act disallowed by Great Britain. Cf Burge, 
Conuneiitaries^ I. 737, note ; W. B. Stevens, History of Georgia^ 
I. 286. 

1761, March 14. Pennsylvania : £10 Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a duty on Negroes and Mulattoe slaves, im- 
ported into this province." Continued in 1 768 ; repealed (or 
disallowed) in 17S0. Carey and Bioren, Laius, I. 371, 451 ; 
Acts of Assembly (ed. 1782), p. 149; Colonial Records (1852), 

VIII. 576. 

1761, April 22. Pennsylvania : Prohibitive Duty Act. 

" A Supplement to an act, entituled An Act for laying a duty on 
Negroes and Mulattoe slaves, imported into tliis province." 
Continued in 1768. Carey and Bioren, Laws, I. 371, 451 ; 
Bettle, Notices of Negro Slavery, in Fenn. Hist. Soc. Mem. 

(1864), I. 388-9. 
1763, Nov. 26. Maryland : Additional £2 Duty Act. 

" An Act for imposing an additional Duty of Two Pounds per 

Poll on all Negroes Imported into this Province." 
§ I. All persons importing Negroes by land or water into this 
province, shall at the time of entry pay to the naval officer the 
sum of two pounds, current money, over and above the duties 



220 APPENDIX A. 

now payable by law, for every Negro so imported or brought 
in, on forfeiture of ;Q\o current money for every Negro so 
brought in and not paid for. One half of the penalty is to go 
to the informer, the other half to the use of the county schools. 
The duty shall be collected, accounted for, and paid by the 
naval officers, in the same manner as former duties on 
Negroes. 

§ 2. But persons removing from any other of his Majesty's domin- 
ions in order to settle and reside within this province, may 
import their slaves for carrying on their proper occupations at 
the time of removal, duty free. 

§ 3. Importers of Negroes, exporting the same within two months 
of the time of their importation, on application to the naval 
officer shall be paid the aforesaid duty. Bacon, Laws, 1763, 
ch. xxviii. 
1763 (circa). New Jersey: Prohibitive Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a duty on Negroes and Mulatto Slaves Im- 
ported into this Province." Disallowed (?) by Great Britain. 
N.J. Archives, IX. 345-6, 3S3, 447. 45S- 
1764, Aug. 25. Soutli Carolina : Additional £100 Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying an additional duty upon all Negroes hereafter 
to be imported into this Province, for the time therein men- 
tioned, to be paid by the first purchasers of such Negroes." 
Cooper, Statutes, IV. 187. 
1766, November. Virginia : Proposed Duty Act. 

" An act for laying an additional duty upon slaves imported into 
this colony." 

§ I. "... from and after the passing of this act there shall be levied 
and paid ... for all slaves imported or brought into this 
colony for sale, either by land or water from any port or place 
whatsoever, by the buyer or purchaser, after the rate of ten per 
centum on the amount of each respective purchase over and 
above the several duties already laid upon slaves imported or 
brought into this colony as aforesaid," etc. To be suspended 
until the king's consent is given, and then to continue seven 
years. The same act was passed again in 1769. Hening, 
Statutes, VIII. 237, 337. 
1766. Rhode Island : Restrictive Measure (? ). 

Title and text not found. Cf. Digest of 1798, under "Slave 
Trade;" Public Laws of Rhode Island (revision of 1822), 
p. 441. 



APPENDIX A. 221 

1768, Feb. 20. Penusylvania : Re-enactment of Acts of 1761. 

Titles only found. Dallas, Laius, I. 490 ; Colonial Records (1S52), 
IX. 472, 637, 641. 

1769, Nov. 16. New Jersey : £15 Duty Act. 

" An Act for laying a Duty on the Purchasers of Slaves imported 
into this Colony." 

"Whereas Duties on the Importation of Negroes in several of the 
neighbouring Colonies hath, on Experience, been found benefi- 
cial in the Introduction of sober, industrious Foreigners, to 
settle under His Majesty's Allegiance, and the promoting a 
Spirit of Industry among the Inhabitants in general : In order 
therefore to promote the same good Designs in this Govern- 
ment, and that such as choose to purchase Slaves may con- 
tribute some equitable Proportion of the publick Burdens," etc. 
A duty of ''Fifteen Pounds, Proclamation Money, is laid." 
Acts of Assembly (AlHnson, i7 7<^)» P- S^S- 
1769 (circa). Connecticut: Importation Prohibited (?). 

Title and text not found. " Whereas, the increase of slaves is 
injurious to the poor, and inconvenient, therefore," etc. 
Yo\N\tr, Historical Status of the Negro in Connecticut, va. Local 
La%u, etc., p. 125. 

1770, Rhode Island : Bill to Prohibit Importation. 

Bill to prohibit importation of slaves fails. Arnold, History of 
Rhode Island (1S59), II. 304, 321, 337. 

1771, April 12. Massachusetts : Bill to Prevent Importation. 

Bill passes both houses and fails of Governor Hutchinson's assent. 
House fournal, pp. 211, 215, 219, 228, 234, 236, 240, 242-3. 

1771. Maryland : Additional £5 Duty Act. 

" An Act for imposing a further additional duty of fiye pounds cur- 
rent money per poll on all negroes imported into this province." 
For seven years. Lazus of Maryland since 1763 : 177 1, ch. 
vii. ; cf. 1773, sess. Nov.-Dec, ch. xiv. 

1772, April 1. Virginia : Address to the King. 

'•'... The importation of slaves into the colonies from the 
coast of Africa hath long been considered as a trade of great 
inhumanity, and under \\.?, present encouragement, we have too 
much reason to fear ivill endanger the very existence of your 
majesty's American dominions. . . . 

" Deeply impressed with these sentiments, we most humbly beseech 
your majesty to remove all those restraints on your majesty's 



222 APPENDIX A. 

governors of this colony, which inhibit their assenting to such 
laws as ?night check so very J>ernicious a commerce.'' Journals 
of the House of Burgesses, p. 131 ; quoted in Tucker, Disser- 
tation on Slavery (repr. 1861), p. 43. 

1773, Feb. 26. Pennsylvania : Additional £10 Duty Act. 

"An Act for making perpetual the act ... [of 1761] . . . and 
laying an additional duty on the said slaves." Dallas, Laws, I. 
671 ; Acts of Assembly (ed. 1782), p. 149. 

1774, March, June. Massachusetts : Bills to Prohibit Importation. 
Two bills designed to prohibit the importation of slaves fail of the 

governor's assent. First bill : General Court Records, XXX. 
248, 264 ; Mass. Archives, Domestic Relations, 1643-1774, IX. 
457. Second bill: General Court Records, XXX. 30S, 322. 
1774, June. Rhode Island : Importation Restricted. 

" An Act prohibiting the importation of Negroes into this Colony." 

" Whereas, the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the 
preservation of their own rights and liberties, among which, that 
of personal freedom must be considered as the greatest ; as 
those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty 
themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to 
others ; — 

"Therefore, be it enacted . . . that for the future, no negro 
or mulatto slave shall be brought into this colony ; and in case 
any slave shall hereafter be brought in, he or she shall be, and 
are hereby, rendered immediately free, so far as respects per- 
sonal freedom, and the enjoyment of private property, in the 
same manner as the native Indians." 

Provided that the slaves of settlers and travellers be excepted. 

"Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be 
deemed to extend, to any negro or mulatto slave brought 
from the coast of Africa, into the West Indies, on board any 
vessel belonging to this colony, and which negro or mulatto 
slave could not be disposed of in the West Indies, but shall be 
brought into this colony. 

" Provided, that the owner of such negro or mulatto slave give 
bond to the general treasurer of the said colony, within ten 
days after such arrival in the sum of ;^ioo, lawful money, for 
each and every such negro or mulatto slave so brought in, 
that such negro or mulatto slave shall be exported out of the 
colony, within one year from the date of such bond ; if such 
negro or mulatto be alive, and in a condition to be removed." 



APPENDIX A. 223 

" Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be 
deemed to extend, to any negro or mulatto slave that may 
be on board any vessel belonging to this colony, now at sea, in 
her present voyage." Heavy penalties are laid for bringing in 
Negroes in order to free them. Colonial Records, VII. 251-3. 

[i 784, February : " It is voted and resolved, that the whole of 
the clause contained in an act of this Assembly, passed at 
June session, A. D. 1774, permitting slaves brought from the 
coast of Africa into the West Indies, on board any vessel be- 
longing to this (then colony, now) state, and who could not be 
disposed of in the West Indies, &c., be, and the same is, hereby 
repealed." Colonial Records, X. 8.] 
1774, October. Connecticut: Importation Prohibited. 

" An Act for prohibiting the Importation of Indian, Negro or 
Molatto Slaves." 

"... no Indian, negro or molatto Slave shall at any time here- 
after be brought or imported into this Colony, by sea or land, 
from any place or places whatsoever, to be disposed of, left or 
sold within this Colony." This was re-enacted in the revision 
of 1784, and slaves born after 1784 were ordered to be eman- 
cipated at the age of twenty-five. Colonial Records, XIV. 329 \ 
Acts and Laws of Connect icid (ed. 1784), pp. 233-4. 

1774. New Jersey : Proposed Prohibitive Duty. 

" A Bill for laying a Duty on Indian, Negroe and Molatto Slaves, 
imported into this Colony." Passed the Assembly, and was re- 
jected by the Council as " plainly " intending " an intire Prohi- 
bition," etc. N.J. Archives, ist Series, VI. 222. 

1775, March 27. Delaware : Bill to Prohibit Importation. 

Passed the Assembly and was vetoed by the governor. Force, 
American Archives, 4th Series, II. 128-9. 
1775, Nov. 23. Virginia : On Lord Dunmore's Proclamation. 

Williamsburg Convention to the pubhc : " Our Assemblies have 
repeatedly passed acts, laying heavy duties upon imported 
Negroes, by which they meant altogether to prevent the horrid 
traffick ; but their humane intentions have been as often 
frustrated by the cruelty and covetousness of a set of English 
merchants." . . . The Americans would, if possible, " not only 
prevent any more Negroes from losing their freedom, but 
restore it to such as have already unhappily lost it." This is 
evidently addressed in part to Negroes, to keep them from 
joining the British. Ibid., III. 1387. 



224 APPENDIX A. 

1776, June 29. Virginia : Preamble to Frame of Government. 

Blame for the slave-trade thrown on the king. See above, page 13. 
Hening, Statutes, IX. 11 2-3. 
1116, Aug.-Sept. Delaware : Constitution. 

'•' The Constitution or system of Government agreed to and re- 
solved upon by the Representatives in full Convention of the 
Delaware State," etc. 

§ 26. "No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa 
ought to be held in slavery on any pretence whatever ; and 
no Negro, Indian, or Mulatto slave ought to be brought into 
this State, for sale, from any part of the world." Force, Ameri- 
can Archives, 5th Series, I. 1 174-9. 

1777, July 2. Vermont : Slavery Condemned. 

The first Constitution declares slavery a violation of '' natural, in- 
herent and unalienable rights." Vermont State Papers, 1779- 
86, p. 244. 

1777. Maryland . Negro Duty Maintained 
" An Act concerning duties." 

"... no duties imposed by act of assembly on any article or thing 
imported into or exported out of this state (except duties 
imposed on the importation of negroes), shall be taken or 
received within two years from the end of the present session 
of the general assembly." Laws of Maryland since 1763 : 
1777, sess. Feb.-Apr., ch. xviii. 

1778, Sept. 7. Pennsylvania: Act to Collect Back Duties. 

"An Act for the recovery of the duties on Negroes and Mulattoe 
slaves, which on the fourth day of July, one thousand seven 
hundred and seventy-six, were due to this state," etc. Dallas, 
Laws, I. 782. 
1778, October. Virginia : Importation Prohibited. 

" An act for preventing the farther importation of Slaves. 

g I. "For preventing the farther importation of slaves into this 
commonwealth, Be it enacted by the Ge?ieral Assembly, That 
from and after the passing of this act no slave or slaves shall 
hereafter be imported into this commonwealth by sea oV land, 
nor shall any slaves so imported be sold or bought by any 
person whatsoever. 

§ 2. " Every person hereafter importing slaves into this common- 
wealth contrary to this act shall forfeit and pay the sum of 
one thousand pounds for every slave so imported, and every 
person selling or buying any such slaves shall in like manner 



APPENDIX A. 225 

forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred pounds for every slave 
so sold or bought,'' etc. 

§ 3. " And be it farther enacted^ That every slave imported into 
this commonwealth, contrary to the true intent and meaning 
of this act, shall, upon such importation become free." 

§ 4. Exceptions are bona fide settlers with slaves not imported 
later than Nov. i, 1778, nor intended to be sold ; and transient 
travellers. Re-enacted in substance in the revision of October, 
1785. For a temporary exception to this act, as concerns 
citizens of Georgia and South Carolina during the war, see Act 
of May, 1780. Hening, Statutes, IX. 471 ; X. 307 ; XII. 182. 
1779, October. Rhode Island . Slave-Trade Re.stricted. 

" An Act prohibiting slaves being sold out of the state, against 
their consent." Title only found. Colonial Records, VIII. 
61S ; Arnold, History of Rhode Island^ II. 449. 

1779, Vermont : Importation Prohibited. 

" An Act for securing the general privileges of the people," etc. 
The act abolished slavery. Vermont State Papers, 1779-S6, 
p. 287. 

1780. Massachusetts : Slavery Abolished. 

Passage in the Constitution which was held by the courts to abolish 
slavery : " Art. I. All men are born free and equal, and have 
certain, natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among: which 
may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defendingvtheir 
lives and liberties," etc. Constitution of Massachusetts, Part I., 
Art. I ; prefixed to Perpetual La^as (1789). 
1780, March 1. Pennsylvania : Slavery Abolished. 

" An Act for the gradual abolition of slavery." 

§ 5. All slaves to be registered before Nov. i. 

§ 10. None but slaves "registered as aforesaid, shall, at any time 
hereafter, be deemed, adjudged, or holden, within the territories 
of this commonwealth, as slaves or servants for life, but as free 
men and free women ; except the domestic slaves attending 
upon Delegates in Congress from the other American States," 
and those of travellers not remaining over six months, foreign 
ministers, etc., " provided such domestic slaves be not aliened 
or sold to any inhabitant," etc. 

§ II. Fugitive slaves from other states may be taken back, 

§ 14. Former duty acts, etc., repealed. Dallas, Laws, I. 838. 
Cf. Penn. Archives, VII. 79 ; VIII. 720. 
15 



226 APPENDIX A. 

1783, AprU. Confederation : Slave-Trade in Treaty of 1783. 

" To the earnest wish of Jay that British ships should have no 
right under the convention to carry into the states any 
slaves from any part of the world, it being the intention o 
the United States entirely to prohibit their importation, Fox 
answered promptly : ' If that be their policy, it never can be 
competent to us to dispute with them their own regulations.' " 
Fox to Hartley, June lo, 17S3, in Bancroft, History of the Con- 
stitution, I. 61. Cf. Sparks, Diplomatic Correspondence, X. 154, 
June, 1783. 
1783. Maryland : Importation Prohibited. 

" An Act to prohibit the bringing slaves into this state." 
"... it shall not be lawful, after the passing this act, to import or 
bring into this state, by land or water, any negro, mulatto, 
or other slave, for sale, or to reside within this state ; and 
any person brought into this state as a slave contrary to this 
act, if a slave before, shall thereupon immediately cease to be 
a slave, and shall be free ; provided that this act shall not 
prohibit any person, being a citizen of some one of the 
United States, coming into this state, with a bona fide inten- 
tion of settling therein, and who shall actually reside within 
this state for one year at least, ... to import or bring in 
any slave or slaves which before belonged to such person, 
and which slave or slaves had been an inhabitant of some 
one of the United States, for the space of three whole years 
next preceding such importation," etc. Laivs of Maryland 
since 1763 : 1783, sess. April-June, ch. xxiii. 

1783, Aug. 13. South Carolina : £3 and £20 Duty Act. 

"An Act for levying and collecting certain duties and imposts 
therein mentioned, in aid of the public revenue." Cooper, 
Statutes, IV. 576. 

1784, February. Rhode Island : Manumission. 

" An Act authorizing the manumission of negroes, mulattoes, and 
others, and for the gradual abolition of slavery." Persons born 
after March, 1784, to be free. Bill framed pursuant to a peti- 
tion of Quakers. Colonial Records, X. 7-8 ; Arnold, History 
of Rhode Island, II. 503. 
1784, March 26. South Carolina : £3 and £5 Duty Act. 

" An Act for levying and collecting certain Duties," etc. Cooper, 
Statutes, IV. 607. 



APPENDIX A. 227 

1785, April 12. New York : Partial Prohibition. 

"An Act granting a bounty on hemp to be raised within this 
State, and imposing an additional duty on sundry articles of 
merchandise, and for other purposes therein mentioned." 

"... And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That 
if any negro or other person to be imported or brought into 
this State from any of the United States or from any other 
place or country after the first day of June next, shall be sold 
as a slave or slaves within this State, the seller or his or her 
factor or agent, shall be deemed guilty of a public offence, 
and shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of one hun- 
dred pounds lawful money of New York, to be recovered by 
any person," etc. 

" And be it further ejiacted . . . That every such person im- 
ported or brought into this State and sold contrary to the true 
intent and meaning of this act shall be freed." Laws of 
Neiu York, 1785-88 (ed. 1886), pp. 120-21. 

1785. Rhode Island : Restrictive Measure (?). 

Title and text not found. Cf Public Laws of Rhode Island {xq- 
vision of 1822), p. 441. 

1786, March 2. Nevy Jersey : Importation Prohibited. 

" An Act to prevent the importation of Slaves into the State of 
New Jersey, and to authorize the Manumission of them under 
certain restrictions, and to prevent the Abuse of Slaves." 

"Whereas the Principles of Justice and Humanity require that 
the barbarous Custom of bringing the unoffending African 
from his native Country and Connections into a State of 
Slavery ought to be discountenanced, and as soon as possible 
prevented ; and sound Policy also requires, in order to afford 
ample Support to such of the Community as depend upon 
their Labour for their daily Subsistence, that the Importation 
of Slaves into this State from any other State or Country what- 
soever, ought to be prohibited under certain Restrictions ; and 
that such as are under Servitude in the State ought to be pro- 
tected by Law from those Exercises of wanton Cruelty too 
often practiced upon them ; and that every unnecessary Ob- 
struction in the Way of freeing Slaves should be removed ; 
therefore, 

§ I. " j9^ // Enacted by the Cowicil and General Assembly of 
this State, and it is hereby Enacted by the Authority of the 



228 APPENDIX A. 

sa77ie, That from and after the Publication of this Act, it shall 
not be lawful for any Person or Persons whatsoever to bring 
into this State, either for Sale or for Servitude, any Negro 
Slave brought from Africa since the Year Seventeen Hundred 
and Seventy-six ; and every Person offending by bringing into 
this State any such Negro Slave shall, for each Slave, forfeit 
and Pay the Sum of Fifty Pounds, to be sued for and recov- 
ered with Costs by the Collector of the Township into which 
such Slave shall be brought, to be applied when recovered to 
the Use of the State. 
§2. ^'- And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, 
That if any Person shall either bring or procure to be brought 
into this State, any Negro or Mulatto Slave, who shall not have 
been born in or brought from Africa since the Year above 
mentioned, and either sell or buy, or cause such Negro or 
Mulatto Slave to be sold or remain in this State, for the Space 
of six Months, every such Person so bringing or procuring to 
be brought or selling or purchasing such Slave, not born in 
or brought from Africa since the Year aforesaid, shall for every 
such Slave, forfeit and pay tlie Sum of Twenty Pounds, to be 
sued for and recovered with Costs by the Collector of the 
Township into which such Slave shall be brought or remain 
after the Time limited for that Purpose, the Forfeiture to be 
applied to the Use of the State as aforesaid. 
§ 3. " Provided akvays, and be it further Enacted by the Author- 
ity aforesaid, That Nothing in this Act contained shall be 
construed to prevent any Person who shall remove into the 
State, to take a settled Residence here, from bringing all his 
or her Slaves without incurring the Penalties aforesaid, except- 
ing such Slaves as shall have been brought from Africa since 
the Year first above mentioned, or to prevent any Foreigners 
or others having only a temporary Residence in this State, for 
the Purpose of transacting any particular Business, or on 
their Travels, from bringing and employing such Slaves as Ser- 
vants, during the Time of his or her Stay here, provided such 
Slaves shall not be sold or disposed of in this State." Acts 
of the Tenth General Assembly (Tower Collection of Laws). 
1786, Oct. 30. Vermont : External Trade Prohibited. 

" An act to prevent the sale and transportation of Negroes and 
Molattoes out of this State." ^100 penalty. Statutes of 
Vermont (ed. 1787), p. 105. 



APPENDIX A. 229 

1786. North Carolina : Prohibitive Duty. 

''An act to impose a duty on all slaves brought into this state 
by land or water." 

"Whereas the importation of slaves into this state is productive 
of evil consequences, and highly impolitic," etc. A prohibitive 
duty is imposed. The exact text was not found. 

§ 6. Slaves introduced from States which have passed emancipa- 
tion acts are to be returned in three months ; if not, a bond of 
;^5o is to be forfeited, and a fine of ^100 imposed. 

§ 8. Act to take effect next Feb. i ; repealed by Act of 1790, 
ch. 18. Martin, IredeWs Acts of Assemb/y, I. 413, 492. 

1787, Feb. 3. Delaware : Exportation Prohibited. 

" An Act to prevent the exportation of slaves, and for other pur- 
poses." Laics of Delaware (ed. 1797), p- S84, ch. 145 b. 
1787, March 28. South Carolina : Total Prohibition. 

" An Act to regulate the recovery and payment of debts and for 
prohibiting the importation of negroes for the time therein 
mentioned." Title only given. Grimk^, Public Laics, p. Ixviii, 
No. 1485. 
1787, March 23. South Carolina : Importation Prohibited. 

" An Ordinance to impose a Penalty on any person who shall 
import into this State any Negroes, contrary to the Instal- 
ment Act." 

I. '■^ Be it ordaified, by the honorable the Senate and House of 
Representatives, met in General Assembly, and by the author- 
ity of the same, That any person importing or bringing into 
this State a negro slave, contrary to the Act to regulate the 
recovery of debts and prohibiting the importation of negroes, 
shall, besides the forfeiture of such negro or slave, be hable 
to a penalty of one hundred pounds, to the use of the State, 
for every such negro or slave so imported and brought in, 
in addition to the forfeiture in and by the said Act prescribed." 
Cooper, Statutes, VII. 430. 
1787, October, Rhode Island : Importation Prohibited. 

" An act to prevent the slave trade and to encourage the abo- 
htion of slavery." This act prohibited and censured trade 
under penalty of ;^ 100 for each person and ^1,000 for each 
vessel. Bartlett, Lndex to the Printed Acts and Resolves, 
P" 333 ) NarragaJisett Historical Register, II. 298-9. 



APPENDIX B. 



A CHRONOLOGICAL CONSPECTUS OF STATE, 

NATIONAL, AND INTERNATIONAL 

LEGISLATION. 

1788-1871. 



As the State statutes and Congressional reports and bills are difficult to find, the 
significant parts of such documents are printed in full. In the case of national 
statutes and treaties, the texts may easily be found through the references. 

1788, Feb. 22. New York : Slave-Trade Prohibited. 

" An Act concerning slaves." 

" Whereas in consequence of the act directing a revision of the 
laws of this State, it is expedient that the several existing laws 
relative to slaves, should be revised, and comprized in one. 
Therefore, Be it enacted" etc. 

" And to prevent the further importation of slaves into this State, 
Be it fnrthcr enacted by the authority aforesaid^ That if any 
person shall sell as a slave within this State any negro, or other 
person, who has been imported or brought into this State, after " 
June I, 1785, " such seller, or his or her factor or agent, making 
such sale, shall be deemed guilty of a public offence, and shall 
for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds. 
. . . And further, That every person so imported . . . shall 
be free." The purchase of slaves for removal to another State 
is prohibited under penalty of £100. Laws of New York, 
1785-88 (ed. 1886), pp. 675-6. 



APPENDIX B. 231 

17S8, March 25. Massachusetts : Slave-Trade Prohibited. 

" An Act to prevent the Slave-Trade, and for granting Relief to the 
Families of such unhappy Persons as may be kidnapped or 
decoyed away from this Commonwealth." 
" Whereas by the African trade for slaves, the lives and liberties of 
many innocent persons have been from time to time sacrificed 
to the lust of gain : And whereas some persons residing in this 
Commonwealth may be so regardless of the rights of human 
kind, as to be concerned in that unrighteous commerce : 

§ I. " Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of 
the same, That no citizen of this Commonwealth, or other 
person residing within the same, shall for himself, or any other 
person whatsoever, either as master, factor, supercargo, owner 
or hirer, in whole or in part, of any vessel, directly or indirectly, 
import or transport, or buy or sell, or receive on board, his or 
their vessel, with intent to cause to be imported or transported, 
any of the inhabitants of any State or Kingdom, in that part of 
the world called Africa, as slaves, or as servants for term of 
years." Any person convicted of doing this shall forfeit and 
pay the sum of ^50 for every person received on board, and the 
sum of ;^200 for every vessel fitted out for the trade, " to be 
recovered by action of debt, in any Court within this Common- 
wealth, proper to try the same ; the one moiety thereof to the 
use of this Commonwealth, and the other moiety to the person 
who shall prosecute for and recover the same." 

§ 2. All insurance on said vessels and cargo shall be null and void ; 
" and this act may be given in evidence under the general issue, 
in any suit or action commenced for the recovery of insurance 
so made," etc. 

§ 4. '•^Provided . . . That this act do not extend to vessels which 
have already sailed, their owners, factors, or commanders, for and 
during their present voyage, or to any insurance that shall have 
been made, previous to the passing of the same." Perpetual 
Laws of Massachusetts, 1780-89 (ed. 17S9), p. 235. 
1788, March 29. Pennsylvania : Slave-Trade Prohibited. 

" An Act to explain and amend an act, entituled, ' An Act for the 
gradual abolition of slavery.' " 

§ 2. Slaves brought in by persons intending to settle shall be free. 

§ 3. "... no negro or mulatto slave, or servant for term of years," 



232 APPENDIX B. 

except servants of congressmen, consuls, etc., " shall be removed 
out of this state, with the design and intention that the place of 
abode or residence of such slave or servant shall be thereby 
altered or changed, or with the design and intention that such 
slave or servant, if a female, and pregnant, shall be detained 
and kept out of this state till her delivery of the child of which 
she is or shall be pregnant, or with the design and intention that 
such slave or servant shall be brought again into this state, after 
the expiration of six months from the time of such slave or 
serv'ant having been first brought into this state, without his or 
her consent, if of full age, testified upon a private examination, 
before two Justices of the peace of the city or county in which 
he or she shall reside, or, being under the age of twenty-one 
years, without his or her consent, testified in manner aforesaid, 
and also without the consent of his or her parents," etc. Penalty 
for every such offence, ^75. 
§ 5. "... if any person or persons shall build, fit, equip, man, or 
otherwise prepare any ship or vessel, within any port of this 
state, or shall cause any ship or other vessel to sail from any port 
of this state, for the purpose of carrying on a trade or traffic in 
slaves, to, from, or between Europe, Asia, Africa or America, or 
any places or countries whatever, or of transporting slaves to or 
from one port or place to another, in any part or parts of the 
world, such ship or vessel, her tackle, furniture, apparel, and other 
appurtenances, shall be forfeited to the commonwealth, . . . 
And. moreover, all and every person and persons so building, 
fitting out," etc., shall forfeit;^ 1000. Dallas, Laws, II. 586. 
1788, October. Connecticut: Slave-Trade Prohibited. 
" An Act to prevent the Slave-Trade." 

" Be it enacted by the Govenw7\ Council and Representatives in 
General Court assembled^ and by the Authority of the same, 
That no Citizen or Inhabitant of this State, shall for himself, or 
any other Person, either as Master, Factor, Supercargo, Owner or 
Hirer, in Whole, or in Part, of any Vessel, directly or indirectly, 
import or transport, or buy or sell, or receive on board his or her 
Vessel, with Intent to cause to be imported or transported, any 
of the Inhabitants of any Country in Africa, as Slaves or Servants, 
for Term of Years ; upon Penalty of Fifty Founds, for every 
Person so received on board, as aforesaid ; and of Five Hundred 
Founds for every such Vessel employed in the Importation or 



APPENDIX B. 233 

Transportation aforesaid ; to be recovered by Action, Bill, Plaint 
or Information ; the one Half to the Plaintiff, and the other Half 
to the Use of this State." And all insurance on vessels and 
slaves shall be void. This act to be given as evidence under 
general issue, in any suit commenced for recovery of such in- 
^rance. 

"... if any Person shall kidnap . . . any free Negro," etc., inhab- 
itant of this State, he shall forfeit ^100. Every vessel clearing 
for the coast of Africa or any other part of the world, and sus- 
pected to be in the slave-trade, must give bond in ;^iooo. 
Slightly amended in 1789. Acts and Laws of Connecticut (c^. 
r784), PP- 36S-9, 3S8. 
1783, Nov. 4. South Carolina : Temporary Prohibition. 

"An Act to regulate the Payment and Recovery of Debts, and 
to prohibit the Importation of Negroes, for the Time therein 
limited." 

§ 16. "No negro or other slave shall be imported or brouglit into 
this State either by land or water on or before the first ot 
January, 1 793, under the penalty of forfeiting every sucli slave 
or slaves to any person who will sue or inform for the same ; 
and under further penalty of paying ^100 to the use of the 
State for every such negro or slave so imported or brought in : 
Provided, That nothing in this prohibition contained shall extend 
to such slaves as are now the property of citizens of the United 
States, and at the time of passing this act shall be within the 
limits of the said United States. 

§ 17. "All former instalment laws, and an ordinance imposing a 
penalty on persons importing negroes into this State, passed the 
28th day of March 17S7, are hereby repealed." Grimke, 
Public Laias, p. 466. 
1789, Feb. 3. Delaware : Slave-Trade Prohibited. 

" An additional Supplementary act to an act, intituled, An act to pre- 
vent the exportation of slaves, and for other purposes." 

" Whereas it is inconsistent with that spirit of general liberty which 
pervades the constitution of this state, that vessels should be 
fitted out, or equipped, in any of the ports thereof, for the pur- 
pose of receiving and transporting the natives of Africa to places 
where they are held in slavery; or that any acts should be 
deemed lawful, which tend to encourage or promote such in- 
iquitous traffic among us : 



234 APPENDIX B. 

§ I. ^' Be it therefore enacted by the Ge7ieral Assembly of Delaware, 
That if any owner or owners, master, agent, or factor, shall fit 
out, equip, man, or otlierwise prepare, any ship or vessel with- 
in any port or place in this state, or shall cause any ship, or 
other vessel, to sail from any port or place in this state, for the 
purpose of carrying on a trade or traffic in slaves, to, from, or 
between, Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, or any places or 
countries whatever, or of transporting slaves to, or from, one port 
or place to another, in any part or parts of the world ; such ship 
or vessel, her tackle, furniture, apparel, and other appurtenances, 
shall be forfeited to this state. . . . And moreover, all and every 
person and persons so fitting out . . . any ship or vessel . . . 
shall severally forfeit and pay the sum of Five Hundred Pounds ; " 
one-half to the state, and one-half to the informer. 

§ 2. " And whereas it has been found by experience, that the act, 
intituled. An act to prevent the exportation of slaves, and for 
other purposes, has not produced all the good efl"ects expected 
therefrom," any one exporting a slave to Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, or the West Indies, 
without license, shall forfeit ;^ioo for each slave exported and 
;^2o for each attempt. 

§ 3. Slaves to be tried by jury for capital offences. Laws of Dela- 
ware (ed. 1797), P- 9421 ch. 194b. 
1789, May 13. Congress (House) : Proposed Duty on Slaves Imported. 

A tax of $10 per head on slaves imported, moved by Parker of Vir- 
ginia. After debate, withdrawn. Annals of Cofig., i Cong. 
I sess. pp. 336-42. 

1789, Sept. 19. Congress (House) : Bill to Tax Slaves Imported. 

A committee under Parker of Virginia reports, " a bill concerning 
the importation of certain persons prior to the year 180S." 
Read once and postponed until next session. House Jour?ial 
(repr. 1826), 1 Cong, i sess. I. 37, 114; A?inals of Cong., i 
Cong. I sess., pp. 366, 903. 

1790, March 22. Congress (House) : Declaration of Powers. 
See above, page 78. 

1790, March 22. New York : Amendment of Act of 1738. 

" An Act to amend the act entided ' An act concerning slaves.' " 
" Whereas many inconveniences have arisen from the prohibiting 

the exporting of slaves from this State. Therefore 
Be it enacted . . ., That where any slave shall hereafter be convicted 



APPENDIX B. 235 

of a crime under the degree of a capital offence, in the supreme 
court, or the court of oyer and terminer, and general gaol deliv- 
ery, or a court of general sessions of the peace within this State, 
it shall and may be lawful to and for the master or mistress 
to cause such slave to be transported out of this State," etc. 
Laws of Nezv York, 1789-96 (ed. 18S6), p. 151. 
1792, May. Connecticut : Act of 1788 Strengthened. 

" An Act in addition to an Act, entitled ' An Act to prevent the 

Slave Trade.' " 
This provided that persons directly or indirectly aiding or assisting 
in slave-trading should be fined ^100. All notes, bonds, mort- 
gages, etc., of any kind, made or executed in payment for any 
slave imported contrary to this act, are declared null and void. 
Persons removing from the State might carry away their slaves. 
Acts and Laius of Confiecticut (ed. 1784), pp. 412-3. 
1792, Dec. 17. Virginia : Revision of Acts. 

'• An Act to reduce into one, the several acts concerning slaves, free 

negroes, and mulattoes." 
§ I. " Be it enacted . . ., That no persons shall henceforth be slaves 
within this commonwealth, except such as were so on the seven- 
teenth day of October," 1785, "and the descendants of the 
females of them. 
§ 2. " Slaves which shall hereafter be brought into this common- 
wealth, and kept therein one whole year together, or so long at 
different times as shall amount to one year, shall be free." 
§ 4. " Provided, That nothing in this act contained, shall be con- 
strued to extend to those who may incline to remove from any 
of the United States and become citizens of this, if within sixty 
days after such removal, he or she shall take the following oath 
before some justice of the peace of this commonwealth : ' /, 
A. B., do swear, that my removal info the state of Virginia, 
was with no intmt of evading the laws for preventing the fur- 
ther importation of slaves, nor have I brought with me a7iy 
slaves, with an intention of selling them, nor have any of the 
slaves which I have brought with 7ne, been imported from Africa, 
or any of the West India islands, since the first day of Novem- 
ber y' 1778, etc. 
§ 53. This act to be in force immediately. Statutes at Large of 
Virginia, New Series, I. 122. 



236 APPENDIX B. 

1792, Dec. 21. South Carolina: Importation Prohibited until 1795. 

" An Act to prohibit the importation of Slaves from Africa, or 
other places beyond sea, into this State, for two years; and 
also to prohibit the importation or bringing in Slaves, or Ne- 
groes, Mulattoes, Indians, Moors or Mestizoes, bound for a 
term of years, from any of the United States, by land or by 
water." 

" Whereas, it is deemed inexpedient to increase the number of 
slaves within this State, in our present circumstances and 
situation ; 

§ I . " Be it therefore enacted . . ., That no slave shall be im- 
ported into this State from Africa, the West India Islands, or 
other place beyond sea, for and during the term of two years, 
commencing from the first day of January next, which will 
be in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
ninety-three." 

§ 2. No slaves, Negroes, Indians, etc., bound for a term of years, 
to be brought in from any of the United States or bordering 
countries. Settlers may bring their slaves. Cooper, Statutes. 
VII. 431. 

1793, Dec. 19. Georgia : Importation Prohibited. 

" An act to prevent the importation of negroes into this state from 
the places herein mentioned." Title only. Re-enacted (?) 
by the Constitution of 1798. Marbury and Crawford, Digest, 
p. 442 ; Prince, Digest, p. 786. 

1794, North Carolina : Importation Prohibited. 

" An act to prevent the further importation and bringing of slaves 
and indented servants of colour into this state." 

§ I. ^' Be it enacted . . ., That from and after the first day of May 
next, no slave or indented servant of colour shall be imported 
or brought into this state by land or water ; nor shall any slave 
or indented servant of colour, who may be imported or brought 
contrary to the intent and meaning of this act, be bought, sold 
or hired by any person whatever." 

§ 2. Penalty for importing, ;^ioo per slave ; for buying or selling, 
the same. 

§ 4. Persons removing, travelling, etc., are excepted. The act was 
amended slightly in 1 796. Martin, IredeWs Acts of Assembly, 
II- 53> 94- 



APPENDIX B. 237 

1794, March 22. United States Statute : Export Slave-Trade For- 
bidden. 

" An Act to prohibit the carrying on the Slave Trade from the 
United States to any foreign place or country." Statutes at 
Large, I. 347. For proceedings in Congress, see Senate Jour- 
nal {xt^x. 1820), 3 Cong. I sess. II. 51 ; House Joimial (repr. 
1826), 3 Cong. I sess. II. 76, 84, 85, 96, 98, 99, 100; Annals 
of Cong., 3 Cong, i sess. pp. 64, 70, 72. 

1794. Dec. 20. South Carolina : Act of 1792 Extended. 

" An Act to revive and extend an Act entitled ' An Act to prohibit 
the importation of Slaves from Africa, or other places beyond 
Sea, into this State, for two years; and also, to prohibit the im- 
portation or bringing in of Negro Slaves, Mulattoes, Indians, 
Moors or Mestizoes, bound for a term of years, from any of the 
United States, by Land or Water.'" 

§ I. Act of 1792 extended until Jan. i, 1797. 

§ 2. It shall not be lawful hereafter to import slaves, free Negroes, 
etc., from the West Indies, any part of America outside the 
United States, " or from other parts beyond sea." Such slaves 
are to be forfeited and sold ; the importer to be fined ;!^5o ; free 
Negroes to be re-transported. Cooper, Statutes, VII. 433. 

1795. Nortli Carolina: Act against "West Indian Slaves. 

" An act to prevent any person who may emigrate from any of the 
West India or Bahama islands, or the French, Dutch or Spanish 
settlements on the southern coast of America, from bringing 
slaves into this state, and also for imposing certain restrictions 
on free persons of colour who may hereafter come into this 
state." Penalty, ;^ioo for each slave over 15 years of age. 
Laws of North Carolina (revision of 1819), I. 786. 

1796. Maryland -. Importation Prohibited. 

" An Act relating to Negroes, and to repeal the acts of assembly 
therein mentioned." 

" Be it enacted . . ., That it shall not be lawful, from and after 
the passing of this act, to import or bring into this state, by 
land or water, any negro, mulatto or other slave, for sale, or 
to reside within this state ; and any person brought into this 
state as a slave contrary to this act, if a slave before, shall 
thereupon immediately cease to be the property of the person 
or persons so importing or bringing such slave within this state, 
and shall be free." 



238 APPENDIX B. 

§ 2. Any citizen of the United States, coming into the State to 
take up bo7ia fide residence, may bring with him, or within one 
year import, any slave which was his property at the time of re- 
moval, " which slaves, or the mother of which slaves, shall have 
been a resident of the United States, or some one of them, three 
whole years next preceding such removal." 

§ 3. Such slaves cannot be sold within three years, except by will, 
etc. In 1797, "A Supplementary Act," etc., slightly amended 
the preceding, allowing guardians, executors, etc., to import 
the slaves of the estate. Dorsey, Laws, I. 334, 344. 

1796, Dec. 19. South Carolina : Importation Prohibited until 1799. 

" An Act to prohibit the importation of Negroes, until the first day 
of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine." 

" Whereas, it appears to be highly impolitic to import negroes from 
Africa, or other places beyond seas," etc. Extended by acts of 
Dec. 21, 179S, and Dec. 20, 1800, until Jan. i, 1803. Cooper, 
Statutes^ VII. 434, 436. 

1797, Jan. 18. Delaware : Codification of Acts. 

*' An Act concerning Negro and Mulatto slaves." 
§ 5. "... any Negro or Mulatto slave, who hath been or shall 
be brought into this state contrary to the intent and meaning 
of [the act of 1787] ; and any Negro or Mulatto slave who 
hath been or shall be exported, or sold with an intention for 
exportation, or carried out for sale from this state, contrary to 
the intent and meaning of [the act of 1793], shall be, and are 
hereby declared free ; any thing in this act to the contrary not- 
withstanding." Laws of Delaware (ed. 1797), p- 132 1, ch. 
124 c. 

1798, Jan. 31. Georgia : Importation Prohibited. 

"An act to prohibit the further importation of slaves into this 
state." 

§ I. "... six months after the passing of this act, it shall be 
unlawful for any person or persons to import into this state, 
from Africa or elsewhere, any negro or negroes of any age or 
sex." Every person so offending shall forfeit for the first offence 
the sum of $1,000 for every negro so imported, and for every 
subsequent offence the sum of S 1,000, one half for the use of 
the informer, and one half for the use of the State. 

§ 2. Slaves not to be brought from other States for sale after three 
months. 



APPENDIX B. 239 

§ 3. Persons convicted of bringing slaves into this State with a 
view to sell them, are subject to the same penalties as if they 
had sold them. Marbury and Crawford, Digest, p. 440. 
1798, March 14. New Jersey : Slave-Trade Prohibited. 

" An Act respecting slaves." 

§ 1 2. "And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this act, 
it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever, to 
bring into this state, either for sale or for servitude, any negro 
or other slave whatsoever." Penalty, $140 for each slave ; trav- 
ellers and temporary residents excepted. 

§ 17. Any persons fitting out vessels for the slave-trade shall forfeit 
them. Paterson, Digest, p. 307. 
1798, April 7. United States Statute : Importation into Mississippi 
Territory Prohibited. 

" An Act for an amicable settlement of limits with the state of 
Georgia, and authorizing the establishment of a government in 
the Mississippi territory." Statutes at Large, I. 549. For 
proceedings in Congress, see A/inals of Cong., 5 Cong. 2 sess. 
PP- 511, 512, 513, 514, 515. 532, 533' 1235, 1249, 1277-84, 
1296, 1298-1312, 1313, 1318. 
1798, May 30. Georgia : Constitutional Prohibition. 

Constitution of Georgia : — 

Art. IV. § II. "There shall be no future importation of slaves into 
this state from Africa, or any foreign place, after the first day 
of October next. The legislature shall have no power to pass 
laws for the emancipation of slaves, without the consent of 
each of their respective owners previous to such emancipation. 
They shall have no power to prevent emigrants, from either of 
the United States to this state, from bringing with them such 
persons as may be deemed slaves, by the laws of any one of the 
United States." Marbury and Crawford, Digest, p. 30. 
1800, May 10. United States Statute : Americans Forbidden to Trade 
from one Foreign Country to Another. 

"An Act in addition to the act intituled 'An act to prohibit the 
carrying on the Slave Trade from the United States to any 
foreign place or country.' " Statutes at Large, II. 70. For 
proceedings in Congress, see Senate Journal (repr. 1821), 
6 Cong. I sess. III. 72, 77, 88, 92. 
1800, Dec. 20. South Carolina : Slaves and Free Negroes Prohibited. 

" An Act to prevent Negro Slaves and other persons of Colour, 



240 APPENDIX B. 

from being brouglit into or entering this State." Supplemented 
Dec. 19, 1801, and amended Dec. 18., 1802. Cooper, Statutes, 
VII. 436, 444, 447. 
1801, April a New York : Slave-Trade Prohibited. 

"An Act concerning slaves and servants." 

"... A?id be it further enacted, That no slave shall hereafter be 
imported or brought into this State, unless the person import- 
ing or bringing such slave shall be coming into this State with 
intent to reside permanently therein and shall have resided 
without this State, and also have owned such slave at least dur- 
ing one year next preceding the importing or bringing in of 
such slave," etc. A certificate, sworn to, must be obtained ; 
any violation of this act or neglect to take out such certificate 
will result in freedom to the slave. Any sale or Hmited transfer 
of any person hereafter imported to be a public offence, under 
penalty of %2^o, and freedom to the slave transferred. The 
export of slaves or of any person freed by this act is forbidden, 
under penalty of $250 and freedom to the slave. Transporta- 
tion for crime is permitted. Re-enacted with amendments 
March 31, 1817. Laws of New York, 1801 (ed. 1S87), pp. 
547-52 ; Laws of New York, 18 17 (ed. 18 17), p. 136. 
1803, Feb. 28. United States Statute : Importation into States Pro- 
hibiting Forbidden. 

" An Act to prevent the importation of certain persons into certain 
states, where, by the laws thereof, their admission is prohibited." 
Statutes at Large, II. 205. For copy of the proposed bill 
which this replaced, see Annals of Cong., 7 Cong. 2 sess. 
p. 467. For proceedings in Congress, see LLousc Journal 
(repr. 1826), 7 Cong. 2 sess. IV. 304, 324, 347 ; Seiiate Jour- 
nal (repr. 182 1), 7 Cong. 2 sess. III. 267, 268, 269-70, 273, 
275, 276, 279. 
1803. Dec. 17. South Carolina : African Slaves Admitted. 

'' An Act to alter and amend the several Acts respecting the impor- 
tation or bringing into this State, from beyond seas, or else- 
where, Negroes and other persons of colour ; and for other 
purposes therein mentioned." 

§ I. Acts of 1792, 1794, 1796, 1798, 1800, 1802, hereby repealed. 

§ 2. Importation of Negroes from the West Indies prohibited. 

§ 3. No Negro over fifteen years of age to be imported from the 
United States except under certificate of good character. 



APPENDIX B. 241 

§ 5. Negroes illegally imported to be forfeited and sold, etc. 
Cooper, Statutes, VII. 449. 
1804 [Denmark. 

Act of 1792 abolishing the slave-trade goes into effect.] 
1804, Feb. 14. Congress (House): Proposed Censure of South Caro- 
lina. 

Representative Moore of South Carolina offered the following 
resolution, as a substitute to Mr. Bard's ta.xing proposition of 
Jan. 6 : — 

" Resolved, That this House receive with painful sensibility infor- 
mation that one of the Southern States, by a repeal of certain 
prohibitory laws, have permitted a traffic unjust in its nature, 
and highly impolitic in free Governments." Ruled out of 
order by the chairman of the Committee of the Whole. 
Annals of Cong. ^ S Cong, i sess. p. 1004. 
1804. Feb. 15. Congress (House) : Proposed Duty. 

'■'Resolved, That a tax of ten dollars be imposed on every slave 
imported into any part of the United States." 

*' Ordered, That a bill, or bills, be brought in, pursuant to the said 
resolution," etc. Feb. 16 "a bill laying a duty on slaves im- 
ported into the United States " was read, but was never con- 
sidered. House Journal (repr. 1826), S Cong, i sess. IV. 
523- 578. 580J 581-2. 585 ; Annals of Cong., 8 Cong, i sess. 
pp. 820, 876, 991, 1012, 1020, 1024-36. 

1804, March 26. United States Statute : Slave-Trade Limited. 

"An Act erecting Louisiana into two territories," etc. Acts of 
1794 and 1803 extended to Louisiana. Statutes at Large, 
II. 283. For proceedings in Congress, see Annals of Cong., 
8 Cong. I sess. pp. 106, 211, 223, 231, 233-4, 238, 255, 1038, 
1054-68, 1069-79, 1128-30, 1185-9. 

1805, Feb. 15. Massachu-getts : Proposed Amendment. 

" Resolve requesting the Governor to transmit to the Senators and 
Representatives in Congress, and the Executives of the several 
States this Resolution, as an amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States, respecting Slaves'' June 8, Governor's 
message ; Connecticut answers that it is inexpedient ; Mary- 
land opposes the proposition. Massachusetts Resolves, Feb- 
ruary, 1805, p. 55 ; June, 1805, p. 18. See below, March 3, 
1805. 

16 



242 APPENDIX B. 

1805, March 2. United States Statute : Slave-Trade to Orleans Terri- 
tory Permitted. 

" An Act further providing for the government of the territory of 
Orleans." 

§ I. A territorial government erected similar to Mississippi, with 
same rights and privileges. 

§ 5. 6th Article of Ordinance of 1787, on slaves, not to extend to 
this territory. 

Statutes at Large, II. 322. For proceedings in Congress, see 
Afinais of Cong., 8 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 28, 30, 45-6, 47, 48, 54, 
59-61,69, 727-8,871-2, 957, 1016-9, 1020-1, 1201, 1209-10, 
121 1. Cf. Statutes at Large, II. 331; Afinals of Cong., 8 
Cong. 2 sess., pp. 50, 51, 52, 57, 68, 69, 12 13, 1 215. Iwjoiir- 
7ials, see Index, Senate Bills Nos. 8, 11. 
1805, March 3. Congress (House) : Massachusetts Proposition to 
Amend Constitution. 

Mr. Varuum of Massachusetts presented the resolution of the 
Legislature of Massachusetts, "instructing the Senators, and 
requesting the Representatives in Congress, from the said State, 
to take all legal and necessary steps, to use their utmost 
exertions, as soon as the same is practicable, to obtain an 
amendment to the Federal Constitution, so as to authorize and 
empower the Congress of the United States to pass a law, 
whenever they may deem it expedient, to prevent the further 
importation of slaves from any of the West India Islands, 
from the coast of Africa, or elsewhere, into the United States, 
or any part thereof." A motion was made that Congress have 
power to prevent further importation ; it was read and ordered 
to lie on the table. House Journal (repr. 1826), 8 Cong. 2 sess. 
V. 171 ; Annals of Cong., 8 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 122 1-2. For 
the original resolution, see Massachusetts Resolves, May, 1802, 
to March, 1806, Vol. II. A. (State House ed., p. 239.) 
1805, Dec. 17. Congress (Senate) : Proposition to Prohibit Im- 
portation. 

A " bill to prohibit the importation of certain persons therein 
described into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the 
United States, from and after" Jan. i, 1808, was read twice 
and postponed. Senate Journal (repr. 182 1), 9 Cong, i sess. 
IV. lo-ii ; Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. pp. 20-1. 



APPENDIX B. 243 

1806, Jan. 20. Congress (House) : Vermont Proposed Amendment. 

" Mr. Olin, one of the Representatives from the State of Vermont, 
presented to the House certain resolutions of the General 
Assembly of the said State, proposing an article of amendment 
to the Constitution of the United States, to prevent the further 
importation of slaves, or people of color, from any of the West 
India Islands, from the coast of Africa, or elsewhere, into the 
United States, or any part thereof; which were read, and ordered 
to lie on the table." No further mention found. House Journal 
(repr. 1826), 9 Cong, i sess. V. 238 ; Annals 0/ Cong., 9 Cong. 
I sess. pp. 343-4- 
1806, Jan. 25. Virginia: Imported Slaves to be Sold. 

"An Act to amend the several laws concerning slaves." 

§ 5. If the jury before whom the importer is brought "shall find 
that the said slave or slaves were brought into this common- 
wealth, and have remained therein, contrary to the provisions 
of this act, the court shall make an order, directing him, her or 
them to be delivered to the overseers of the poor, to be by 
them sold for cash and applied as herein directed." 

§ 8. Penalty for bringing slaves, $400 per slave ; the same for buy- 
ing or hiring, knowingly, such a slave. 

§ 16. This act to take effect May i, 1806. Stahites at Large of 
Virginia, New Series, III. 251. 
1806, Jan. 27. Congress (House): Bill to Tax Slaves Imported. 

" A Bill laying a duty on slaves imported into any of the United 
States." Finally dropped. House Journal (repr. 1826), 8 
Cong. 2 sess. V. 129 ; Ibid., 9 Cong, i sess. V. 195, 223, 240, 
242, 243-4, 248, 260, 262, 264, 276-7, 287, 294, 305, 309, 
338 j Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. pp. 273, 274, 346, 358, 

372, 434. 442-4, 533- 

1806, Feb. 4. Congress (House) : Proposition to Prohibit Slave- 
Trade after 1807. 
Mr. Bidwell moved that the following section be added to the bill 
for taxing slaves imported, — that any ship so engaged be 
forfeited. The proposition was rejected, yeas, 17, nays, 86 (?). 
Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. p. 438. 

1806, Feb. 10. Congress (House) : New Hampshire Proposed Amend- 
ment. 
" Mr. Tenney . . . presented to the House certain resolutions of 
the Legislature of the State of New Hampshire, * proposing an 



244 APPENDIX B. 

amendment to the Constitution of the United States, so as to 
authorize and empower Congress to pass a law, whenever they 
may deem it expedient, to prevent the further importation of 
slaves,' or people of color, into the United States, or any part 
thereof." Read and laid on the table. House Jojirnal (repr. 
1S26), 9 Cong. I sess. V. 266; Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i 
sess. p. 448. 
1806, Feb. 17. Congress (House) : Proposition on Slave-Trade. 
The committee on the slave-trade reported a resolution : — 
" Resolved, That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons, to 
import or bring into any of the Territories of the United States, 
any slave or slaves that may hereafter be imported into the 
United States." House Journal, 9 Cong, i sess. V. 264, 278, 
308, 345-6 ; House Reports, () Cong, i sess. II. Feb. 17, 1806 ; 
Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. pp. 472-3- 
1806, April 7. Congress (Senate) : Maryland Proposed Amendment. 
" Mr. Wright communicated a resolution of the legislature of the 
state of Maryland instructing their Senators and Representa- 
tives in Congress to use their utmost exertions to obtain an 
amendment to the constitution of the United States to prevent 
the further importation of slaves ; whereupon, Mr. Wright sub- 
mitted the following resolutions for the consideration of the 
Senate. . . . 
" Resolved, That the migration or importation of slaves into the 
United States, or any territory thereof, be prohibited after the 
first day of January, 1808." Considered April 10, and further 
consideration postponed until the first Monday in December 
next. Senate Journal (repr. 1821), 9 Cong, i sess. IV. 76-7, 
79 ; Annals of Cong., 9 Cong, i sess. pp. 229, 232. 
1806, Dec. 2. President Jefferson's Message. 

See above, page 95. House Journal (repr. 1S26), 9 Cong. 2 sess. 
V. 468. 
1806, Dec. 15. Congress (House): Proposition on Slave-Trade. 

" A bill to prohibit the importation or bringing of slaves into the 
United States, etc.," after Dec. 31, 1807. Finally merged into 
Senate bill. Rnd., House Bill No. 148. 
1806, Dec. 17. Congress (House) : Sloan's Proposition. 

Proposition to amend the House bill by inserting after the article 
declaring the forfeiture of an illegally imported slave, "And 
such person or slave shall be entitled to his freedom." Lost. 
Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 167-77, 180-89. 



APPENDIX B. 245 

1806, Dec. 29. Congress (House) : Sloan's Second Proposition. 
Illegally imported Africans to be either freed, apprenticed, or re- 
turned to Africa. Lost ; Jan. 5, 1S07, a somewhat similar 
proposition was also lost. Ibid.^ pp. 226-S, 254. 

180S, Dec. 31. Great Britain ; Rejected Treaty. 

" Treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between His Britan- 
nic Majesty and the United States of America." 
"Art. XXIV. The high contracting parties engage to communi- 
cate to each other, without delay, all such laws as have been 
or shall be hereafter enacted by their respective Legislatures, 
as also all measures which shall have been taken for the aboli- 
tion or limitation of the African slave trade ; and they further 
agree to use their best endeavors to procure the co-operation 
of other Powers for the final and complete abolition of a trade 
so repugnant to the principles of justice and humanity." 
Amer. State Papers, Foreign^ III. 147, 151. 

1807, March 25. [England : Slave-Trade Abolished. 

" An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade." Statute 47 
George III.^ i sess. ch. 36.] 
1807, Jan. 7. Congress (House) : Bidwell's Proposition. 

" Provided, that no person shall be sold as a slave by virtue of this 
act." Offered as an amendment to § 3 of House bill ; de- 
feated 60 to 61, Speaker voting. A similar proposition was 
made Dec. 23, 1806. House Jojiriial (repr. 1S26), 9 Cong. 
2 sess. V. 513-6. Cf. Annals of Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 
199-203, 265-7. 
1807, Feb. 9. Congress (House) : Section Seven of House Bill. 

§ 7 of the bill reported to the House by the committee provided 
that all Negroes imported should be conveyed whither the 
President might direct and there be indentured as apprentices, 
or employed in whatever way the President might deem best for 
them and the country ; provided that no such Negroes should 
be indentured or employed except in some State in which pro- 
vision is now made for the gradual abolition of slavery. Blank 
spaces were left for limiting the term of indenture. The report 
was never acted on. Annals of Cong.., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 

477-8- 
1807, March 2. United States Statute : Importation Prohibited. 

" An Act to prohibit the importation of Slaves into any port or 
place within the jurisdiction of the United States, from and 



246 APPENDIX B. 

after the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and eight." Bills to amend § 8, so as 
to make less ambiguous the permit given to the internal traffic, 
were introduced Feb. 27 and Nov. 27. Statutes at Large, 
II. 426. For proceedings in Senate, see Senate Journal (repr. 
1821), 9 Cong. 1-2 sess. IV. 11, 112, 123, 124, 132, 133, 150, 
158, 164, 165, 167, 168 ; Annals 0/ Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 
16, 19, 23, 2>3^ 36, 45, 47, 68, 69, 70, 71, 79, 87, 93. For 
proceedings in House, see House Journal (re'^r. 1826), 9 Cong. 

2 sess. V. 470, 482, 488, 490, 491, 496, 500, 504, 510, 513-6, 

517. 540, 557. 575' 579' S^i, 583-4, 585. 592, 594, 610, 613-4, 
616, 623, 63S, 640; 10 Cong. I sess. VI. 27, 50; Annals of 
Cong., 9 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 167, 180, 200, 220, 231, 254, 264, 
270. 
1808, Feb. 23. Congress (Senate) : Proposition to Amend Constitution. 

" Agreeably to instructions from the legislature of the state of 
Pennsylvania to their Senators in Congress, Mr. Maclay sub- 
mitted the following resolution, which was read for consid- 
eration : — 

"Resolved . . ., That the Constitution of the United States be 
so altered and amended, as to prevent the Congress of the 
United States, and the legislatures of any state in the Union, 
from authorizing the importation of slaves." No further men- 
tion. Senate Journal (repr. 1821), 10 Cong, i sess. IV. 
235 ; An?ials 0/ Cong.., 10 Cong, i sess. p. 134. For the full 
text of the instructions, see Amer. State Papers, Miscellaneous, 
I. 716. 

1810, Dec. 5. President Madison's Message. 

" Among the commercial abuses still committed under the American 
flag, ... it appears that American citizens are instrumental in 
carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in violation of 
the laws of humanity, and in defiance of those of their own 
country. The same just and benevolent motives which pro- 
duced the interdiction in force against this criminal conduct, 
will doubtless be felt by Congress, in devising further means of 
suppressing the evil." House Journal (repr. 1826), 11 Cong. 

3 sess. VII. 435. 

1811, Jan. 15. United States Statute : Secret Act and Joint Reso- 

lution against Amelia Island Smugglers. 
Statutes at Large, III. 471 ff. 



APPENDIX B. 247 

1815, March 29. [Prance : Abolition of Slave-Trade. 

Napoleon on his return from Elba decrees the aboHtion of the 
slave-trade. Decree re-enacted in 18 18 by the Bourbon dynasty. 
British ivid Foreign State Papers^ 18 15-16, p. 196, note; 
1817-1S, p. 1025.] 
1815, Feb. 18. Great Britain : Treaty of Ghent. 

"Treaty of peace and amity. Concluded December 24, 1814; 
Ratifications exchanged at Washington February 17, 1815; 
Proclaimed February 18, 1815." 

Art. X. " Whereas the traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the 
principles of humanity and justice, and whereas both His 
Majesty and the United States are desirous of continuing their 
efforts to promote its entire abolition, it is hereby agreed that 
both the contracting parties shall use their best endeavors to 
accomplish so desirable an object." U. S. Treaties and Con- 
ventions (ed. 1889), p. 405. 

1815, Dec. 8. Alabama and Mississippi Territory : Act to Dispose of 

Illegally Imported Slaves. 
" An Act concerning Slaves brought into this Territory, contrary 
to the Laws of the United States." Slaves to be sold at auction, 
and the proceeds to be divided between the territorial treasury 
and the collector or informer. Toulmin, Digest of the Lazes 
of Alabama^ p. 637; Statutes of Mississippi digested, etc. (ed. 
1816), p. 3S9. 

1816, Nov. 18. North Carolina : Act to Dispose of Illegally Im- 

ported Slaves. 

" An act to direct the disposal of negroes, mulattoes and persons 
of colour, imported into this state, contrary to the provisions of 
an act of the Congress of the United States, entitled ' an act to 
prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place, within 
the jurisdiction of the United States, from and after the first 
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and eight.' " 

§ I. Every slave illegally imported after 1808 shall be sold for the 
use of the State. 

§ 2. The sheriff shall seize and sell such slave, and pay the pro- 
ceeds to the treasurer of the State. 

§ 3. If the slave abscond, the sheriff may offer a reward not ex- 
ceeding one-fifth of the value of the slave. Laws of North 
Carolifta, 1816, ch. xii. p. 9 ; Laws of North Carolina (revision 
of 1S19), II. 1350. 



248 APPENDIX B. 

1816, Dec. 3. President Madison's Message. 

"The United States having been the first to abolish, within the 
extent of their authority, the transportation of the natives of 
Africa into slavery, by prohibiting the introduction of slaves, 
and by punishing their citizens participating in the traffick, can- 
not but be gratified at the progress, made by concurrent efforts 
of other nations, towards a general suppression of so great an evil. 
They must feel, at the same time, the greater solicitude to give 
the fullest efficacy to their own regulations. With that view, 
the interposition of Congress appears to be required by the 
violations and evasions which, it is suggested, are chargeable 
on unworthy citizens, who mingle in the slave trade under 
foreign flags, and with foreign ports ; and by collusive importa- 
tions of slaves into the United States, through adjoining ports 
and territories. I present the subject to Congress, with a full 
assurance of their disposition to apply all the remedy which 
can be afforded by an amendment of the law. The regulations 
which were intended to guard against abuses of a kindred 
character, in the trade between the several States, ought also 
to be rendered more effectual for their humane object." 
House Journal, 14 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 15-6. 

1817, Feb. 11. Congress (House): Proposed Joint Resolution. 

" Joint Resolution for abolishing the traffick in Slaves, and the 
Colinization \_sic\ of the Free People of Colour of the United 
States." 

^^ Resolved, . . . That the President be, and he is hereby authorized 
to consult and negotiate with all the governments where min- 
isters of the United States are, or shall be accredited, on the 
means of effecting an entire and immediate abolition of the 
traffick in slaves. And, also, to enter into a convention with 
the government of Great Britain, for receiving into the colony 
of Sierra Leone, such of the free people of colour of the United 
States as, with their own consent, shall be carried thither. . . . 
" Resolved, That adequate provision shall hereafter be made to 
defray any necessary expenses which may be incurred in 
carrying the preceding resolution into effect." Reported on 
petition of the Colonization Society by the committee on the 
President's Message. No further record. House Journal, \^ 
Cong. 2 sess. pp. 25-7, 380; House Doc, 14 Cong. 2 sess. 
No. 77. 



APPEXDIX B. 249 

1817, July 23 [Great Britain and Portugal : First Concession of Right 
of Search. 

"By this treaty, ships of war of each of the nations might visit 
merchant vessels of both, if suspected of having slaves on 
board, acquired by illicit traffic." This "related only to the 
trade north of the equator ; for the slave-trade of Portugal 
within the regions of western Africa, to the south of the equator, 
continued long after this to be carried on with great vigor." 
Woolsey, Interjiatioiial Law (1S74), § 197, pp. 331-2 ; British 
and Foreign State Papers, iS 16-17, PP- S5-11S.] 
1817, Sept. 23. [Great Britain and Spain : Abolition of Trade North 
of Equator. 

" By the treaty of Madrid, . . . Great Britain obtained from Spain, 
for the sum of four hundred thousand pounds, the immediate 
abolition of the trade north of the equator, its entire abolition 
after 1S20, and the concession of the same mutual right of 
search, which the treaty with Portugal had just established." 
Woolsey, International Laio (1874), § 197, p. -^T)- \ British 
and Foreign State Papers, 1S16-17, pp. 33-74.] 
1817, Dec 2 President Monroe's Message on Amelia Island, etc. 

" A just regard for the rights and interests of the United States 
required that they [i. e., the Amelia Island and Galveston 
pirates] should be suppressed, and orders have been accord- 
ingly issued to that effect. The imperious considerations which 
produced this measure will be explained to the parties whom 
it may, in any degree, concern." Jlouse Journa/, 15 Cong. 
I sess. p. 1 1. 
1817, Dec. 19. Georgia : Act to Dispose of Illegally Imported Slaves. 

" An Act for disposing of any such negro, mulatto, or person of 
color, who has been or may hereafter be imported or brought 
into this State in violation of an act of the United States, 
entitled an act to prohibit the importation of slaves," etc. 

§ I. The governor by agent shall receive such Negroes, and, 

§ 2. sell them, or, 

§ 3. give them to the Colonization Society to be transported, on 
condition that the Society reimburse the State for all e.xpense, 
and transport them at their own cost. Prince, Digest, p. 793. 
1318, Jan. 10. Congress (House) : Bill to Supplement Act of 1807. 

Mr. Middleton, from the committee on so much of the President's 
Message as related to the illicit introduction of slaves into the 



250 APPENDIX B. 

United States from Amelia Island, reported a bill in addition 
to former acts prohibiting the introduction of slaves into the 
United States. This was read twice and committed ; April i 
it was considered in Committee of the Whole ; Mr. Middleton 
offered a substitute, which was ordered to be laid on table and 
to be printed ; it became the Act of 1819. See below, March 
3, 1819. House Journal, 15 Cong. 1 sess. pp. 131, 410. 

1818, Jan. 13. President Monroe's Special Message. 

" I have the satisfaction to inform Congress, that the establishment 
at Amelia Island has been suppressed, and without the effusion 
of blood. The papers which explain this transaction, I now 
lay before Congress," etc. Ibid., pp. 137-9. 

1818, Feb. 9. Congress (Senate) : Bill to Register (?) Slaves. 

" A bill respecting the transportation of persons of color, for sale, 
or to be held to labor." Passed Senate, dropped in House ; 
similar bill Dec. 9, 1S18, also dropped in House. Senate Jo ur- 
7ial, 15 Cong. I sess. pp. 147, 152, 157, 165, 170, 188, 201, 
203, 232, 237 ; 15 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 63, 74, 77, 202, 207, 285, 
291, 297; House Journal, 15 Cong, i sess. p. 332 ; 15 Cong. 
2 sess. pp. 303, 305, 316. 

1818, April 4. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Constitution. 
Mr. Livermore's resolution : — 

" No person shall be held to service or labour as a slave, nor shall 
slavery be tolerated in any state hereafter admitted into the 
Union, or made one of the United States of America." Read, 
and on the question, " Will the House consider the same ? " 
it was determined in the negative. House Journal^ 15 Cong. 
I sess. pp. 420-1 ; Annals of Cotig., 15 Cong, i sess. pp. 
1675-6. 

1818, April 20. United States Statute : Act in Addition to Act of 
1807. 
" x-\n Act in addition to ' An act to prohibit the introduction [impor- 
tation] of slaves into any port or place v^^ithin the jurisdiction 
of the United States, from and after the first day of January, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight,' 
and to repeal certain parts of the same." Statutes at Large, 
III. 450. For proceedings in Congress, see Senate Journal, 
15 Cong. I sess. pp. 243, 304, 315, m, zz'^, 340, 348, 377, 
386, 388, 391, 403, 406 ; House Journal, 15 Cong, i sess. pp. 
45°. 452, 456, 468, 479, 484, 492, 505. 



ArPENDIX B. 251 

1818, May 4. [Great Britain and Netherlands : Treaty. 

Right of Search granted for the suppression of the slave-trade. 
British and Foreign State Papers^ 1817-1S, pp. 125-43.] 

1818, Dec. 19. Georgia: Act of 1817 Reinforced. 

No title found. " Whereas numbers of African slaves have been 
illegally introduced into the State, in direct violation of the 
laws of the United States and of this State, Be it therefore 
enacted ^^^ etc. Informers are to receive one-tenth of the net 
proceeds from the sale of illegally imported Africans, ''Pro- 
vided, nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to 
extend farther back than the year 181 7." Prince, Digest, 
p. 798. 

1819, Feb. 8. Congress (Senate) : Bill in Addition to Former Acts. 
"A bill supplementary to an act, passed the 2d day of March, 

1807, entitled," etc. Postponed. Senate Journal, 15 Cong. 
2 sess. pp. 234, 244, 3 1 1-2, 347. 
1819, March 3. United States Statute : Cruisers Authorized, etc. 

"An Act in addition to the Acts prohibiting the slave trade." 
Statutes at Large, III. 532. For proceedings in Congress, see 
Senate Journal, 15 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 338, 339, 343, 345, 350, 
362; House Journal, 15 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 9-19, 42-3, 150, 
179. 2>Z^r 334. 341, 343' 352- 

1819, Dec. 7. President Monroe's Message. 

" Due attention has likewise been paid to the suppression of the 
slave trade, in compliance with a law of the last session. 
Orders have been given to the commanders of all our public 
ships to seize all vessels navigated under our flag, engaged in 
that trade, and to bring them in, to be proceeded against, in 
the manner prescribed by that law. It is hoped that these 
vigorous measures, supported by like acts by other nations, will 
soon terminate a commerce so disgraceful to the civilized 
world." House Journal, 16 Cong, i sess. p. 18. 

1820, Jan. 19. Congress (House) : Proposed Registry of Slaves. 
" On motion of Mr. Cuthbert, 

' Resolved, That the Committee on the Slave Trade be instructed 
to enquire into the expediency of establishing a registry of 
slaves, more effectually to prevent the importation of slaves 
into the United States, or the territories thereof." No further 
mention. Ibid., p. 150. 



252 APPENDIX B. 

1820, Feb. 5. Congress (House) : Proposition on Slave-Trade. 

" Mr. Meigs submitted the following preamble and resolution : 

" Whereas, slavery in the United States is an evil of great and in- 
creasing magnitude ; one which merits the greatest efforts of 
this nation to remedy : Therefore, 

" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to enquire into the 
expediency of devoting the public lands as a fund for the 
purpose of, 

" ist, Employing a naval force competent to the annihilation of 
the slave trade ; 

" 2dly, The emancipation of slaves in the United States ; and, 

" 3dly, Colonizing them in such way as shall be conducive to their 
comfort and happiness, in Africa, their mother country." Read, 
and, on motion of Walker of North Carolina, ordered to lie on 
the table. Feb. 7, Mr. Meigs moved that the House now con- 
sider the above-mentioned resolution, but it was decided in the 
negative. Feb. 18, he made a similar motion and proceeded 
to discussion, but was ruled out of order by the Speaker. He 
appealed, but the Speaker was sustained, and the House refused 
to take up the resolution. No further record appears. Ibid., 
pp. 196, 200, 227. 
1820, Feb. 23. Massachusetts : Slavery in Western Territory. 

" Resolve respecting Slavery " : — 

" The Committee of both Houses, who were appointed to consider 
' what measures it may be proper for the Legislature of this 
Commonwealth to adopt, in the expression of their sentiments 
and views, relative to the interesting subject, now before Con- 
gress, of interdicting slavery in the New States, which may be 
admitted into the Union, beyond the River Mississippi,' re- 
spectfully submit the following report : . . . 

" Nor has this question less importance as to its influence on the 
slave trade. Should slavery be further permitted, an immense 
new market for slaves would be opened. It is well known that 
notwithstanding the strictness of our laws, and the vigilance 
of the government, thousands are now annually imported from 
Africa," etc. Massachusetts Resolves, May, 1819, to February, 
1824, pp. 147-51- 
1820, May 12. Congress (House) : Resolution for Negotiation. 

" Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 



APPENDIX B. 253 

President of the United States be requested to negociate with 
all the governments where ministers of the United States are or 
shall be accredited, on the means of effecting an entire and 
immediate abolition of the slave trade." Passed House, May 
12, 1820; lost in Senate, May 15, 1820. House Journal, 16 
Cong. I sess. pp. 497, 518, 520-21, 526; Antials of Co?Jg., 
16 Cong. I sess. pp. 697-700, 
1820, May 15. United States Statute : Slave-Trade made Piracy. 

" An act to continue in force ' An act to protect the commerce of 
the United States, and punish the crime of piracy,' and also to 
make further provisions for punishing the crime of piracy." 
Continued *by several statutes until passage of the Act of 1S23, 
q. V. Statutes at Large, III. 600. For proceedings in Con- 
gress, see Senate Journal^ 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 238, 241, 268, 
286-7, 314, 331, 346, 350, 409, 412, 417. 422, 434, 425; 
House Journal., 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 453, 454, 494, 51S, 520, 
522, 537, 539, 540, 542. There was also a House bill, which 
was dropped: cf. House Journal, 16 Cong, i sess. pp. 21, 
113, 280, 453, 494. 

1820, Nov. 14. President Monroe's Message. 

" In execution of the law of the last session, for the suppression 
of the slave trade, some of our public ships have also been 
employed on the coast of Africa, where several captures have 
already been made of vessels engaged in that disgraceful traffic." 
Senate Journal, 16 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 16-7. 

1821, Feb. 15. Congress (House): Meigs's Resolution. 

Mr. Meigs offered in modified form the resolutions submitted at 
the last session : — 

" Whereas slavery, in the United States, is an evil, acknowledged 
to be of great and increasing magnitude, . . . therefore, 

" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the 
expediency of devoting five hundred million acres of the public 
lands, next west of the Mississippi, as a fund for the purpose 
of, in the 

" First place ; Employing a naval force, competent to the annihila- 
tion of the slave trade," etc. Question to consider decided in 
the affirmative, 6^, to 50; laid on the table, 66 to 55. House 
Journal, 16 Cong. 2 sess. p. 238 ; Anfials of Cong., 16 Cong. 
2 sess. pp. 1168-70. 



254 APPENDIX B. 

1821, Dec. 3. President Monroe's Message. 

" Like success has attended our efforts to suppress the slave 
trade. Under the flag of the United States, and the sanction 
of their papers, the trade may be considered as entirely sup- 
pressed j and, if any of our citizens are engaged in it, under 
the flag and papers of other powers, it is only from a respect to 
the rights of those powers, that these offenders are not seized 
and brought home, to receive the punishment which the laws 
inflict. If every other power should adopt the same policy, 
and pursue the same vigorous means for carrying it into effect, 
the trade could no longer exist." House Journal, 17 Cong, 
I sess. p. 22. 

1822, April 12. Congress (House) : Proposed Resolution. 

" Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to 
enter into such arrangements as he may deem suitable and 
proper, with one or more of the maritime powers of Europe, 
for the effectual abolition of the slave trade." House Reports, 
17 Cong. I sess. II. No. 92, p. 4 ; Anfials of Cofig., 17 Cong. 
I sess. p. 1538. 
1822, June 18. Mississippi : Act on Importation, etc. 

"An act, to reduce into one, the several acts, concerning slaves, 
free negroes, and mulattoes." 

§ 2. Slaves born and resident in the United States, and not crimi- 
nals, may be imported. 

§ 3. No slave born or resident outside the United States shall be 
brought in, under penalty of $1,000 per slave. Travellers are 
excepted. Revised Code of the Laws of Mississippi (Natchez, 
1824), p. 369. 

1822, Dec. 3. President Monroe's Message. 

" A cruise has also been maintained on the coast of Africa, when 
the season would permit, for the suppression of the slave-trade ; 
and orders have been given to the commanders of all our pub- 
lic ships to seize our own vessels, should they find any engaged 
in that trade, and to bring them in for adjudication." House 
Journal, 17 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 12, 21. 

1823, Jan. 1. Alabama : Act to Dispose of Illegally Imported Slaves. 
" An Act to carry into effect the laws of the United States pro- 
hibiting the slave trade." 

§ I. ^^Be it enacted, . . . That the Governor of this state be . . . 
authorized and required to appoint some suitable person, as 



APPENDIX B. 255 

the agent of the state, to receive all and every slave or slaves 
or persons of colour, who may have been brought into this 
state in violation of the laws of the United States, prohibiting 
the slave trade : Provided, that tlie authority of the said agent is 
not to extend to slaves who have been condemned and sold." 

§ 2. The agent must give bonds. 

§ 3. " And be it further enacted, That the said slaves, when so 
placed in the possession of the state, as aforesaid, shall be 
employed on such public work or works, as shall be deemed by 
the Governor of most value and utility to the public interest." 

§ 4. A part may be hired out to support those employed in public 
work. 

§ 5. "And be it further enacted, That in all cases in which a 
decree of any court having competent authority, shall be in 
favor of any or claimant or claimants, the said slaves shall be 
truly and faithfully, by said agent, delivered to such claimant 
or claimants : but in case of their condemnation, they shall be 
sold by such agent for cash to the highest bidder, by giving 
sixty days notice," etc. Acts of the Assembly of Alabama, 1822 
(Cahavv'ba, 1S23), p. 62. 
1823, Jan. 30. United States Statute: Piracy Act made Perpetual. 

"An Act in addition to 'An act to continue in force "An act to 
protect the commerce of the United States, and punish the 
crime of piracy," ' " etc. Statutes at Large, III. 510-14, 721, 
789. For proceedings in Congress, see Senate Journal, i-j 
Cong. 2 sess. pp. 61, 64, 70, S3, 98, loi, 106, no, in, 122, 
137; House Journal, 17 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 73, 76, 156, 183, 
189. 
1823, Feb. 10. Congress (House) : Resolution on Slave-Trade. 

Mr. Mercer offered the following resolution : — 

" Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested 
to enter upon, and to prosecute, from time to time, such ne- 
gotiations with the several maritime powers of Europe and 
America, as he may deem expedient, for the effectual abolition 
of the African slave trade, and its ultimate denunciation as 
piracy, under the law of nations, by the consent of the civilized 
world." Agreed to Feb. 28 ; passed Senate. House Journal, 
17 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 212, 280-82 ; Annals of Cong., 17 Cong. 
2 sess. pp. 928, 1147-55. 
1823, March 3. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for the support of the navy," etc. 



256 APPENDIX B. 

" To enable the President of the United States to carry into effect 
the act'' of 1S19, $50,000. Statutes at Large, III. 763, 764. 
1823. President : Proposed Treaties. 

Letters to various governments in accordance with the resolu- 
tion of 1S23 : April 28, to Spain; May 17, to Buenos Ayres ; 
May 27, to United States of Colombia; Aug. 14, to Portugal. 
See above, Feb. 10, 1823. House Doc, iS Cong, i sess. VI. 
No. 119. 

1823, June 24. Great Britain : Proposed Treaty. 

Adams, March 31, proposes that the trade be made piracy. Can- 
ning, April 8, reminds Adams of the treaty of Ghent and asks 
for the granting of a mutual Right of Search to suppress the 
slave-trade. The matter is further discussed until June 24. 
Minister Rush is empowered to propose a treaty involving the 
Right of Search, etc. This treaty was substantially the one 
signed (see below, March 13, 1S24), differing principally in the 
first article. 

" Article I. The two high contracting Powers, having each sepa- 
rately, by its own laws, subjected their subjects and citizens, 
who may be convicted of carrying on the illicit traffic in slaves 
on the coast of Africa, to the penalties of piracy, do hereby 
agree to use their influence, respectively, with the other mari- 
time and civilized nations of the world, to the end that the said 
African slave trade may be recognized, and declared to be, 
piracy, under the law of nations." House Doc, 18 Cong, i sess. 
VI. No. 119. 
1324, Feb. 6. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Constitution. 

Mr. Abbot's resolution on persons of color : — 

"That no part of the constitution of the United States ought to be 
construed, or shall be construed to authorize the importation 
or ingress of any person of color into any one of the United 
States, contrary to the laws of such state." Read first and 
second time and committed to the Committee of tlie Whole. 
House Jounial, 18 Cong, i sess. p. 20S ; Annals of Cong., 
iS Cong. I sess. p. 1399. 

1824, March 13. Great Britain : Proposed Treaty of 1824. 
" The Convention : " — 

Art. I. " The commanders and commissioned officers of each of 
the two high contracting parties, duly authorized, under the 
regulations and instructions of their respective Governments, to 
cruize on the coasts of Africa, of America, and of the West 



APPENDIX B. 257 

Indies, for the suppression of the slave trade," shall have the 
power to seize and bring into port any vessel owned by sub- 
jects of the two contracting parties, found engaging in the 
slave-trade. The vessel shall be taken for trial to the country 
where she belongs. 

Art. II. Provides that even if the vessel seized does not belong to 
a citizen or citizens of either of the two contracting parties, 
but is chartered by them, she may be seized in the same way 
as if she belonged to them. 

Art. III. Requires that in all cases where any vessel of either 
party shall be boarded by any naval officer of the other party, 
on suspicion of being concerned in the slave-trade, the officer 
shall deliver to the captain of the vessel so boarded a certifi- 
cate in writing, signed by the naval officer, specifying his rank, 
etc., and the object of his visit. Provision is made for the 
delivery of ships and papers to the tribunal before which they 
are brought. 

Art. IV. Limits the Right of Search, recognized by the Conven- 
tion, to such investigation as shall be necessary to ascertain 
the fact whether the said vessel is or is not engaged in the slave- 
trade. No person shall be taken out of the vessel so visited 
unless for reasons of health. 

Art. V. Makes it the duty of the commander of either nation, 
having captured a vessel of the other under the treaty, to 
receive unto his custody the vessel captured, and send or carry 
it into some port of the vessel's own country for adjudication, 
in which case triplicate declarations are to be signed, etc. 

Art. VI. Provides that in cases of capture by the officer of either 
party, on a station where no national vessel is cruising, the cap- 
tor shall either send or carry his prize to some convenient port 
of its own country for adjudication, etc. 

Art. VII. Provides 'that the commander and crew of the captured 
vessel shall be proceeded against as pirates, in the ports to 
which they are brought, etc. 

Art. VIII. Confines the Right of Search, under this treaty, to 
such officers of both parties as are especially authorized to 
execute the laws of their countries in regard to the slave-trade. 
For every abusive exercise of this right, officers are to be 
personally liable in costs and damages, etc. 

Art. IX. Provides that the government of either nation shall inquire 

17 



258 APPENDIX B. 

into abuses of this Convention and of the laws of the two coun- 
tries, and inflict on guilty officers the proper punishment. 

Art. X. Declares that the right, reciprocally conceded by this 
treaty, is wholly and exclusively founded on the consideration 
that the two nations have by their laws made the slave-trade 
piracy, and is not to be taken to affect in any other way the 
rights of the parties, etc. ; it further engages that each power 
shall use its influence with all other civilized powers, to procure 
from them the acknowledgment that the slave-trade is piracy 
under the law of nations. 

Art. XI. Provides that the ratifications of the treaty shall be ex- 
changed at London within twelve months, or as much sooner 
as possible. Signed by Mr. Rush, Minister to the Court of St. 
James, March 13, 1824. 

The above is a synopsis of the treaty as it was laid before the 
Senate. It was ratified by the Senate with certain conditions, 
one of which was that the duration of this treaty should be 
limited to the pleasure of the two parties on six months' no- 
tice ; another was that the Right of Search should be limited 
to the Afric.-'.n and West Indian seas : i. e., the word '"'America " 
was struck out. This treaty as amended and passed by the 
Senate (cf. above, p. 139) was rejected by Great Britain. A 
counter project was suggested by her, but not accepted (cf 
above, p. 142). The striking out of the word "America" was 
declared to be the insuperable objection. Senate Doc, 18 Cong. 
2 sess. I. No. I, pp. 15-20 ; Niks' s Register, 3rd Series, XXVI. 
230-2. For proceedings in Senate, see Amer. State Papers, 
foreign, V. 360-2. 
1824, March 31. [Great Britain: Slave-Trade made Piracy. 

" An Act for the more effectual Suppression of the African Slave 
Trade." 

Any person engaging in the slave-trade " shall be deemed and 
adjudged guilty of Piracy, Felony and Robbery, and being con- 
victed thereof shall suffer Death without Benefit of Clergy, and 
Loss of Lands, Goods and Chattels, as Pirates, Felons and 
Robbers upon the Seas ought to suffer," etc. Statute 5 George 
IV., ch. 17 ; Amer. State Papers, Foreign, V. 342.] 
1824, April 16. Congress (House) : Bill to Suppress Slave-Trade. 

" Mr. Govan, from the committee to which was referred so much 
of the President's Message as relates to the suppression of the 



APPENDIX B. 259 

Slave Trade, reported a bill respecting the slave trade ; which 
was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole." 
§ I. Provided a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment not 
exceeding 7 years, and forfeiture of ship, for equipping a slaver 
even for the foreign trade ; and a fine not exceeding $3,000, 
and imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, for serving on board 
any slaver. Annals of Cong., 18 Cong, i sess. pp. 2397-8 ; 
House Journal, 18 Cong, i sess. pp. 26, 180, 181,323, 329, 

356, 423- 
1824, May 21. President Monroe's Message on Treaty of 1824. 

Anicr. State Papers, Foreign, V. 344-6. 
1824, Nov. 6. [Great Britain and Sweden : Treaty, 

Right of Search granted for the suppression of the slave-trade. 
British and Foreign State Papers, 1824-5, pp. 3-28.] 
1824, Nov. 6. Great Britain: Counter Project of 1825. 

Great Britain proposes to conclude the treaty as amended by the 
Senate, if the word " America " is reinstated in Art. I. (Cf. 
above, March 13, 1S24.) February 16, 1825, the House Com- 
mittee favors this project ; March 2, Addington reminds Adams 
of this counter proposal ; April 6, Clay refuses to reopen nego- 
tiations on account of the failure of the Colombian treaty. 
Amer. State Papers, Foreign, V. 367 ; House Reports, iS Cong. 
2 sess. I. No. 70; House Doc.., 19 Cong, i sess. I. No. 16. 
1824, Dec. 7. President Monroe's Message. 

" It is a cause of serious regret, that no arrangement has yet been 
finally concluded between the two Governments, to secure, by 
joint co-operation, the suppression of the slave trade. It was 
the object of the British Government, in the early stages of the 
negotiation, to adopt a plan for the suppression, which should 
include the concession of the mutual right of search by the 
ships of war of each party, of the vessels of the other, for 
suspected offenders. This was objected to by this Govern- 
ment, on the principle that, as the right of search was a 
right of war of a belligerant towards a neutral power, it might 
have an ill effect to extend it, by treaty, to an offence which 
had been made comparatively mild, to a time of peace. 
Anxious, however, for the suppression of this trade, it was 
thought adviseable, in compliance with a resolution of the 
House of Representatives, founded on an act of Congress, to 
propose to the British Government an expedient, which should 



26o APPENDIX B. 

be free from that objection, and more effectual for the object, 
by making it piratical. ... A convention to this effect was 
concluded and signed, in London," on the 13th of March, 
1824, "by plenipotentiaries duly authorized by both Govern- 
ments, to the ratification of which certain obstacles have 
arisen, which are not yet entirely removed." [For the removal 
of which, the documents relating to the negotiation are sub- 
mitted for the action of Congress]. . . . 

" In execution of the laws for the suppression of the slave trade, 
a vessel has been occasionally sent from that squadron to the 
coast of Africa, with orders to return thence by the usual 
track of the slave ships, and to seize any of our vessels which 
might be engaged in that trade. None have been found, and, 
it is believed, that none are thus employed. It is well known, 
liowever, that the trade still exists under other flags." House 
Journal, 18 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 11, 12, 19, 27, 241; House 
Reports, 18 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 70 : Gales and ?iCdXor\, Register 
of Debates, I. 625-8, and Appendix, p. 2 flf. 
1825, Feb. 21. United States of Colombia: Proposed Treaty. 

The President sends to the Senate a treaty with the United States 
of Colombia drawn, as United States Minister Anderson said, 
similar to that signed at London, with the alterations made by 
the Senate. March 9, 1825, the Senate rejects this treaty. 
A7?jer. State Papers, Foreign, V. 729-35. 
1825, Feb. 28 Congress (House): Proposed Resolution on Slave- 
Trade. 

Mr. Mercer laid on the table the following resolution : — 

" Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested 
to enter upon, and prosecute from time to time, such negotia- 
tions with the several maritime powers of Europe and America, 
as he may deem expedient for the effectual abolition of the 
slave trade, and its ultimate denunciation, as piracy, under the 
law of nations, by the consent of the civilized world." The 
House refused to consider the resolution. House Journal, 
18 Cong. 2 sess. p. 280 ; Gales and Seaton, Register of Debates, 
L 697, 736. 
1825, March 3. Congress (House) : Proposed Resolution against Right 
of Search. 
" Mr. Forsyth submitted the following resolution : 
"Resolved^ That while this House anxiously desires that the Slave 



APPENDIX B. 261 

Trade should be, universally, denounced as Piracy, and, as such, 
should be detected and punished under the law of nations, it 
considers that it would be highly inexpedient to enter into 
engagements with any foreign power, by which all the mer- 
chant vessels of the United States would be exposed to the 
inconveniences of any regulation of search, from which any 
merchant vessels of that foreign power would be exempted." 
Resolution laid on the table. House Journal^ 18 Cong. 2 
sess. pp. 30S-9 ; Gales and Seaton, Register of Debates, I. 739. 

1825, Dec. 6. President Adanis'a Message. 

" The objects of the West India Squadron have been, to carry into 
execution the laws for the suppression of the African Slave 
Trade : for the protection of our commerce against vessels of 
piratical character. . . . These objects, during the present 
year, have been accomplished more effectually than at any 
former period. The African Slave Trade has long been ex- 
cluded from the use of our flag ; and if some few citizens of 
our country have continued to set the laws of the Union, as 
well as those of nature and humanity, at defiance, by persever- 
ing in that abominable traffic, it has been only by sheltering 
themselves under the banners of other nations, less earnest for 
the total extinction of the trade than ours." House Journal, 
19 Cong. I sess. pp. 20, 96, 296-7, 305, 323, 329, 394-5, 399, 
410, 414, 421, 451, 640. 

102s, Feb. 14. Congress (House) : Proposition to Repeal Parts of Act 
of 1819. 
" Mr. Forsyth submitted the following resolutions, viz. : 

1 . " Resolved, That it is expedient to repeal so much of the act of 

the 3d March, 18 19, entided, 'An act in addition to the acts 
prohibiting the slave trade,' as provides for the appointment 
of agents on the coast of Africa. 

2. '^ Resolved, T\\^'i it is expedient so to modify the said act of the 

3d of March, 1 819. as to release the United States from all 
obligation to support the negroes already removed to the 
coast of Africa, and to provide for such a disposition of those 
taken in slave ships who now are in, or who may be, here- 
after, brought into the United States, as shall secure to them 
a fair opportunity of obtaining a comfortable subsistence, 
without any aid from the public treasury." Read and laid on 
the table. Ibid., p. 258. 



262 APPENDIX B. 

1826, March 14. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for tlie support of the navy," etc. 
" For the agency on the coast of Africa, for receiving the negroes," 
etc., $32,000. Statutes at Large, IV. 140, 141. 

1827. March 2. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for the support of the Navy," etc. 
"For the agency on the coast of Africa," etc., $56,710. Ibid., 
IV. 206, 208. 
1827, March 11. Texas : Introduction of Slaves Prohibited. 

Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas. Preliminary 

Provisions : — 
Art. 13. " From and after the promulgation of the constitution 
in the capital of each district, no one shall be born a slave in 
the state, and after six months the introduction of slaves under 
any pretext shall not be permitted." Latvs and Decrees of 
Coahuila and Texas (Houston, 1S39), p. 314. 
1827, Sept. 15. Texas : Decree against Slave-Trade. 

" The Congress of the State of Coahuila and Texas decrees as 

follows : " 
Art. I. All slaves to be registered. 
Art. 2, 3. Births and deaths to be recorded. 
Art. 4. '•' Those who introduce slaves, after the expiration of the 
term specified in article 13 of the Constitution, shall be sub- 
ject to the penalties established by the general law of the 13th 
of July, 1824." Ibid., pp. 78-9. 
1828, Feb. 25. Congress (House) : Proposed Bill to Abolish African 
Agency, etc. 
" Mr. McDuffie, from the Committee of Ways and Means, . . . 

reported the following bill : 
" A bill to abolish the Agency of the United States on the Coast 
of Africa, to provide other means of carrying into effect the 
laws prohibiting the slave trade, and for other purposes." 
This bill was amended so as to become the act of May 24, 
1828 (see below). House Reports, 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 
348, p. 278. 

1828, May 24. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making an appropriation for the suppression of the slave 
trade." Statutes at Large, IV. 302 ; House Journal, 20 
Cong. I sess., House Bill No. 190. 

1829, Jan. 28. Congress (House) : Bill to Amend Act of 1807. 

The Committee on Commerce reported "a. bill (No. 399) to 



APPENDIX B. 263 

amend an act, entitled 'An act to prohibit the importation of 
slaves,' " etc. Referred to Committee of the Whole. House 
Journal^ 20 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 58, 84, 215. Cf. Ibid., 20 
Cong. I sess. pp. 121, 135. 

1829, March 2. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making additional appropriations for the support of the 
navy," etc. 

" For the reimbursement of the marshal of Florida for expenses 
incurred in the case of certain Africans who were wrecked on 
the coast of the United States, and for the expense of export- 
ing them to .Africa," $16,000. Statutes at Large, IV. 353, 354. 

1830, April 7. Congress (House) : Resolution against Slave-Trade. 

Mr. Mercer reported the following resolution : — 

" Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested 
to consult and negotiate with all the Governments where Min- 
isters of the United States are, or siiall be accredited, on the 
means of effecting an entire and immediate abolition of the 
African slave trade ; and especially, on the expediency, 
with that view, of causing it to be universally denounced as 
piratical." Referred to Committee of the Whole ; no further 
action recorded. House Journal, 21 Cong, i sess. p. 512. 
1830, April 7. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Act of March 
3, 1819. 

Mr. Mercer, from the committee to which was referred the memo- 
rial of the American Colonization Society, and also memorials, 
from the inhabitants of Kentucky and Ohio, reported with a 
bill (No. 412) to amend "An act in addition to the acts pro- 
hibiting the slave trade," passed March 3, 1S19. Read twice 
and referred to Committee of the Whole. Ibid. 
1830, May 31. Congress (Statute) : Appropriation. 

" An Act making a re-appropriation of a sum heretofore appro- 
priated for the suppression of the slave trade." Statutes at 
Large, IV. 425; Senate Journal, 21 Cong, i sess. pp.359, 
360, 383 ; House Journal, 21 Cong, i sess. pp. 624, 80S-11. 

1830. [Brazil: Prohibition of Slave-Trade. 
Slave-trade prohibited under severe penalties.] 

1831, 1833. [Great Britain and France : Treaty Granting Right of 

Search. 
Convention between Great Britain and France granting a mutual 
limited Right of Search on the East and West coasts of 



264 APPENDIX B. 

Africa, and on the coasts of the West Indies and Brazil. 
British and Foreign State Papers, 1S30-1, p. 641 ff; 1832-3, 
p. 2S6 ff.] 
1831 Feb. 16. Congress (House) : Proposed Resolution on Slave- 
Trade. 
" Mr. Mercer moved to suspend the rule of the House in regard 
to motions, for the purpose of enabling himself to submit a 
resolution requesting the Executive to enter into negotiations 
with the maritime Powers of Europe, to induce them to 
enact laws declaring the African slave trade piracy, and 
punishing it as such." The motion was lost. Gales and 
Seaton, Register of Debates, VII. 726. 
1831, March 2. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for the naval service," etc. 
" For carrying into effect the acts for the suppression of the 
slave trade," etc., ^16,000. Statutes at Large, IV. 460, 462. 
1831, March 3. Congress (House) : Resolution as to Treaties. 

" Mr. Mercer moved to suspend the rule to enable him to submit 

the following resolution : 
" Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested 
to renew, and to prosecute from time to time, such negotia- 
tions with the several maritime powers of Europe and 
America as he may deem expedient for the effectual abolition 
of the African slave trade, and its ultimate denunciation as 
piracy, under the laws of nations, by the consent of the 
civilized world." The rule was suspended by a vote of 108 
to 36, and the resolution passed, 118 to 32. House Joimial, 
21 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 426-8. 
1833, Feb. 20. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for the naval service," etc. 
"... for carrying into effect the acts for the suppression of the 
slave trade," etc., $5,000. Statutes at Large, IV. 614, 615. 
1833, August. Great Britain and France : Proposed Treaty with the 
United States. 
British and French ministers simultaneously invited the United 
States to accede to the Convention just concluded between 
them for the suppression of the slave-trade. The Secretary of 
State, Mr. M'Lane, deferred answer until the meeting of Con- 
gress, and then postponed negotiations on account of the 
irritable state of the country on the slave question. Great 



APPENDIX B. 265 

Britain had proposed that " A reciprocal right of search . 
be conceded by the United States, limited as to place, and 
subject to specified restrictions. It is to be employed only 
in repressing the Slave Trade, and to be exercised under a 
written and specific authority, conferred on the Commander 
of the visiting ship." In the act of accession, " it will be 
necessary that the right of search should be extended to the 
coasts of the United States," and Great Britain will in turn 
extend it to the British West Indies. This proposal was 
finally refused, March 24, 1834, chiefly, as stated, because 
of the extension of the Right of Search to the coa-ts of the 
United States. This part was waived by Great Britain, July 
7, 1S34. On Sept. 12 the French Minister joined in urging 
accession. On Oct. 4, 1S34, Forsyth states that the dc^tert 
mination has "been definitely formed, not to make the 
United States a party to any Convention on the subject of 
the Slave Trade." Farliameniary Papers, 1S35, Vol. LI., 
Slave Trade, Class B., pp. S4-92. 
1833, Dec. 23. Georgia: Slave-Trade Acts Amended. 

"An Act to reform, amend, and consolidate the penal laws of 
the State of Georgia." 

13th Division. " Offences relative to Slaves " : 

§ I. "If any person or persons shall bring, import, or intro- 
duce into this State, or aid or assist, or knowingly become 
concerned or interested, in bringing, importing, or intro- 
ducing into this State, either by land or by water, or in 
any manner whatever, any slave or slaves, each and every 
such person or persons so offending, shall be deemed princi- 
pals in law, and guilty of a high misdemeanor, and . . . on 
conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five 
hundred dollars each, for each and every slave, . . ? and 
imprisonment and labor in the penitentiary for any time not 
less than one year, nor longer than four years." Residents, 
however, may bring slaves for their own use, but must register 
and swear they are not for sale, hire, mortgage, etc. 
§ 6. Penalty for knowingly receiving such slaves, $500. Slightly 
amended Dec. 23, 1S36, e.g., emigrants were allowed to\ire 
slaves out, etc.; amended Dec. 19, 1S49, so as to allow 
importation of slaves from "any other slave holding State 
of this Union." Prince, Digest, pp. 619, 653, S12 .-"'cobb. 
Digest, II. 1018. 



266 APPENDIX B. 

1834, Jan. 24. United States Statute: Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for the naval service," etc. 

"For carrying into effect the acts for the suppression of the 
slave trade," etc., $5,000. Statutes at Large, IV. 670, 671. 
1836, March 17. Texas: African Slave-Trade Prohibited. 

Constitution of the Republic of Texas : General Provisions : — 

§ 9. All persons of color who were slaves for life before coming 
to Texas shall remain so. " Congress shall pass no laws to 
prohibit emigrants from bringing their slaves into the re- 
public with them, and holding them by the same tenure by 
which such slaves were held in the United States ; • . • the 
importation or admission of Africans or negroes into this 
republic, excepting from the United States of America, is 
forever prohibited, and declared to be piracy." Laws of the 
Republic of Texas (Houston, 1S38), I. 19. 

1836, Dec. 21. Texas: Slave-Trade made Piracy. 

" An Act supplementary to an act, for the punishment of Crimes 
and Misdemeanors." 

§ I. ^'- Be it euacted . • . , That if any person or persons shall 
introduce any African negro or negroes, contrary to the true 
intent and meaning of the ninth section of the general pro- 
visions of the constitution, . . . except such as are from the 
United States of America, and had been held as slaves therein, 
be considered guilty of piracy ; and upon conviction there- 
of, before any court having cognizance of the same, shall suffer 
death, without the benefit of clergy." 
2. The introduction of Negroes from the United States of 
America, except of those legally held as slaves there, shall be 
piracy. Lbid., I. 197. Cf. House Doc, 27 Cong, i sess. No. 
34, p. 42. 

1837, March 3. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for the naval service," etc. 
" For carrying into effect the acts for the suppression of the slave 
trade," etc., $11,413.57. Statutes at Large, V. 155, 157. 

1838, March 19. Congress (Senate) : Slave-Trade with Texas, etc. 

" Mr. Morris submitted the following motion for consideration : 

^^ Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary.be instructed to 

inquire whether the present laws of the United States, on the 

subject of the slave trade, will prohibit that trade being carried 

on between citizens of t!ie United States and citizens of the 



APPENDIX B. 2^7 

Republic of Texas, either by land or by sea ; and whether it 
would be lawful in vessels owned by citizens of that Republic, 
and not lawful in vessels owned by citizens of this, or lawful in 
both, and by citizens of both countries ] and also whether a 
slave carried from the United States into a foreign country, 
and brought back, on returning into the United States, is 
considered a free person, or is liable to be sent back, if 
demanded, as a slave, into that country from which he or she 
last came; and also whether any additional legislation by 
Congress is necessary on any of these subjects." March 20, 
the motion of Mr. Walker that this resolution "lie on the 
table," was determined in the affirmative, 32 to 9. Senate 
Journal, 25 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 297-8, 300. 
1839, Feb. 5. Congress (Senate): Bill to Amend Slave-Trade Acts. 
" Mr. Strange, on leave, and in pursuance of notice given, intro- 
duced a bill to amend an act entitled an act to prohibit the 
importation of slaves into any port in the jurisdiction of the 
United States ; which was read twice, and referred to 
the Committee on Commerce." March i, the Committee 
was discharged from further consideration of the bill. Con- 
gressional Globe, 25 Cong. 3 sess. p. 172; Senate Journal, 
25 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 200, 313. 
1S39, Dec. 24. President Van Buren's Message. 

"It will be seen by the report of the Secretary of the navy 
respecting the disposition of our ships of war, that it has 
been deemed necessary to station a competent force on the 
coast of Africa, to prevent a fraudulent use of our flag by 
foreigners. 
" Recent experience has shown that the provisions in our existing 
laws which relate to the sale and transfer of American vessels 
while abroad, are extremely defective. Advantage has been 
.taken of these defects to give to vessels wholly belonging to 
foreigners, and navigating the ocean, an apparent American 
ownership. This character has been so well simulated as to 
afford them comparative security in prosecuting the slave trade, 
a traffic emphatically denounced in our statutes, regarded with 
abhorrence by our citizens, and of which the effectual sup- 
pression is nowhere more sincerely desired than in the United 
States. These circumstances make it proper to recommend to 
your early attention a careful revision of these laws, so that . . . 



268 APPENDIX B. 

the integrity and lionor of our flag may be carefully preserved." 
House Journal, 26 Cong, i sess. pp. 11 7-8. 

1840, Jan. 3. Congress (Senate) : Bill to Amend Act of 1807. 

" Agreeably to notice, Mr. Strange asked and obtained leave to 
bring in a bill (Senate, No. 123) to amend an act entitled 
' An act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port 
or place within the jurisdiction of the United States from and 
after the ist day of January, in the year 1S08,' approved the 
2d day of March, 1S07 ; which was read the first and second 
times, by unanimous consent, and referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary." Jan. 8, it was reported without amend- 
ment ; May 11, it was considered, and, on motion by ]\Ir. King, 
" Ordered, That it lie on the table." Senate Journal, 26 Cong. 
I sess. pp. 73, 87, 363. 
1340, May 4. Con-ress (Senate) : Bill on Slave-Trade. 

'• Mr. Davis, from the Committee on Commerce, reported a bill 
(Senate, No. 335) making farther provision to prevent the 
abuse of the flag of the United States, and the use of un- 
authorized papers in the foreign slavetrade, and for other 
purposes." This passed the Senate, but was dropped in the 
House. Ibid., pp. 356, 359, 440, 442; House Journal, 26 
Cong. I sess. pp. 1138, 1228, 1257. 

1841, June 1. Congress (House) : President Tyler's Message. 

" I shall also, at the proper season, invite your attention to the 
statutory enactments for the suppression of the slave trade, 
which may require to be rendered more efficient in their 
provisions. There is reason to believe that the traffic is on 
the increase. Whether such increase is to be ascribed to 
the abohtiou of slave labor in the British possessions in our 
vicinity, and an attendant diminution in the supply of those 
articles which enter into the general consumption of the world, 
thereby augmenting the demand from other quarters, ... it 
were needless to inquire. The highest considerations of public 
honor, as well as the strongest promptings of humanity, require 
a resort to the most vigorous efforts to suppress the trade." 
House Journal, 27 Cong, i sess. pp. 2i^i 1S4. 
1341, Dec. 7. President Tyler's Message. 

Though the United States is desirous to suppress the slave-trade, 
she will not submit to interpolations into the maritime code at 
will by other nations. This government has expressed its 



APPENDIX B. 269 

repugnance to the trade by several laws. It is a matter for 
deliberation whether we will enter upon treaties containing 
mutual stipulations upon the subject with other governments. 
The United States will demand indemnity for all depredations 
by Great Britain. 
" I invite your attention to existing laws for the suppression of the 
African slave trade, and recommend all such alterations as may 
give to them greater force and efficacy. That the American 
flag is grossly abused by the abandoned and profligate of other 
nations is but too probable. Congress has, not long since, 
had this subject under its consideration, and its importance 
well justifies renewed and anxious attention." House Journal, 
27 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 14-5, ^^, 113. 

1841, Dec. 20. [Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and France: 

Quintuple Treaty.] British afid Foreign State Papers, 1S41-2, 
p. 269 ff. 

1842, Feb. 15. Right of Search : Cass's Protest. 

Cass writes to Webster, that, considering the fact that the signing 
of the Quintuple Treaty would oblige the participants to exer- 
cise the Right of Search denied by the United States, or to 
make a change in the hitherto recognized law of nations, he, 
on his own responsibility, addressed the following protest to 
the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Guizot : — 

"Legation of the United States, 

" Paris, February 13, 1S42. 

" Sir : The recent signature of a treaty, having for its object the 
suppression of the African slave trade, by five of the powers of 
Europe, and to which France is a party, is a fact of such gen- 
eral notoriety that it may be assumed as the basis of any diplo- 
matic representations which the subject may fairly require." 

The United States js no party to this treaty. She denies the 
Right of Visitation which England asserts. [Quotes from the 
presidential message of Dec. 7, 1841.] This principle is 
asserted by the treaty. 

"... The moral effect which such a union of five great powers, 
two of which are eminently maritime, but three of which have 
perhaps never had a vessel engaged in that traffic, is calculated 
to produce upon the United States, and upon other nations 
who, hke them, may be indisposed to these combined move- 
ments, though it may be regretted, yet furnishes no just cause 



270 APPENDIX B. 

of complaint. But the subject assumes another aspect when 
they are told by one of the parties that their vessels are to be 
forcibly entered and examined, in order to carry into effect 
these stipulations. Certainly the American Government does 
not believe that the high powers, contracting parties to this 
treaty, have any wish to compel the United States, by force, 
to adopt their measures to its provisions, or to adopt its stipula- 
tions . . . ; and they will see with pleasure the prompt dis- 
avowal made by yourself, sir, in the name of your country, 
... of any intentions of this nature. But were it otherwise, 
. . . They would prepare themselves with apprehension, indeed, 
but without dismay — with regret, but with firmness — for one 
of those desperate struggles which have sometimes occurred in 
the history of the world." 
If, as England says, these treaties cannot be executed without 
visiting United States ships, then France must pursue the same 
course. It is hoped, therefore, that his Majesty will, before 
signing this treaty, carefully examine the pretensions of Eng- 
land and their compatibility with the law of nations and the 
honor of the United States. Senate Doc, 27 Cong. 3 sess. 
II. No. 52, and IV. No. 223 ; 29 Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 377, 
pp. 192-5. 
1842, Feb. 26. Mississippi: Resolutions on Creole Case. 

The following resolutions were referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs in the United States Congress, House of Repre- 
sentatives, May 10, 1842 : 

"Whereas, the right of search has never been yielded to Great 
Britain," and the brig Creole has not been surrendered by the 
British authorities, etc., therefore, 

§ I. ^^ Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Missis- 
sippi^ That . . . the right of search cannot be conceded to 
Great Britain without a manifest servile submission, unworthy 
a free nation. . . . 

§ 2. " Resolved, That any attempt to detain and search our vessels, 
by British cruisers, should be held and esteemed an unjustifiable 
outrage on the part of the Queen's Government ; and that any 
such outrage, which may have occurred since Lord Aberdeen's 
note to our envoy at the Court of St. James, of date October 
thirteen, eighteen hundred and forty-one, (if any,) may well be 
deemed, by our Government, just cause of war." 



APPENDIX B. 271 

§ 3. ''Resolved, That the Legislature of the State, in view of the 
late murderous insurrection of the slaves on board the Creole, 
their reception in a British port, the absolute connivance at 
their crimes, manifest in the protection extended to them by 
the British authorities, most solemnly declare their firm con- 
viction that, if the conduct of those authorities be submitted 
to, compounded for by the payment of money, or in any 
other manner, or atoned for in any mode except by the sur- 
render of the actual criminals to the Federal Government, 
and the delivery of the other identical slaves to their rightful 
owner or owners, or his or their agents, the slaveholding 
States would have most just cause to apprehend that the 
American flag is powerless to protect American property; 
that the Federal Government is not sufficiently energetic in 
the maintenance and preservation of their peculiar rights ; and 
that these rights, therefore, are in imminent danger." 
§ 4. Resolved, That restitution should be demanded " at all 
hazards." House Doc, 27 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 215. 
1342, March 21. Congress (House) : Giddings's Resolutions. 
Mr. Giddings moved the following resolutions : — 
§ 5.^ " Resolved, That when a ship belonging to the citizens of any 
State of this Union leaves the waters and territory of such 
State, and enters upon the high seas, the persons on board 
cease to be subject to the slave laws of such State, and 
therefore are governed in their relations to each other by, and 
are amenable to, the laws of the United States." 
§ 6. Resolved, That the slaves in the brig Creole are amenable 

only to the laws of the United States. 
§ 7. Resolved, That those slaves by resuming their natural liberty 

violated no laws of the United States. 
§ 8. Resolved, That, all attempts to re-enslave them are unconsti- 
tutional, etc. 

Moved that these resolutions lie on the table; defeated, 53 to 

125. Mr. Giddings withdrew the resolutions. Moved to 

censure Mr. Giddings, and he was finally censured. House 

Journal, 27 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 567-So. 

1842, May 10. Congress (House): Remonstrance of Mississippi 

against Right of Search. 

"Mr. Gwin presented resolutions of the Legislature of the State 



2/2 APPENDIX B. 

of Mississippi, against granting the right of search to Great 
Britain for the purpose of suppressing the African slave trade ; 
urging the Government to demand of the British Government 
redress and restitution in relation to the case of the brig 
Creole and the slaves on board." Referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs. House Journal, 27 Cong. 2 sess. p. Soo. 
1842, Aug. 4. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

" An Act making appropriations for the naval service," etc. 

" For carrying into effect the acts for the suppression of the slave 
trade," etc. $10,543.42. Statutes at Large, V. 500, 501. 
1842, Nov. 10. Joint-Cruising Treaty with Great Britain. 

" Treaty to settle and define boundaries ; for the final suppression 
of the African slave-trade ; and for the giving up of criminals 
fugitive from justice. Concluded August 9, 1842; ratifications 
exchanged at London October 13, 1S42 ; proclaimed Novem- 
ber 10, 1842." Articles VIIL, and IX. Ratified by the Sen- 
ate by a vote of 39 to 9, after several unsuccessful attempts 
to amend it. U. S. Treaties and CoJiventlons (1S89), 
pp. 436-7 ; Senate Exec. Journal, VI. 118-32. 

1842, Dec. 7. President Tyler's Message. 

The treaty of Ghent binds the United States and Great Britain to 
the suppression of the slave-trade. The Right of Search was 
refused by the United States, and our Minister in France for 
that reason protested against the Quintuple Treaty ; his conduct 
had the approval of the administration. On this account the 
eighth article was inserted, causing each government to keep 
* a flotilla in African waters to enforce the laws. If this should 
be done by all the powers, the trade would be swept from the 
ocean. House Journal, 27 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 16-7. 

1843, Feb. 22. Congress (Senate) : Appropriation Opposed. 
Motion by Mr. Benton, during debate on naval appropriations, to 

strike out appropriation " for the support of Africans recap- 
tured on the coast of Africa or elsewhere, and returned to 
Africa by the armed vessels of the United States, $5,000." 
Lost; similar proposition by Bagby, lost. Proposition to 
strike out appropriation for squadron, lost. March 3, bill 
becomes a law, with appropriation for Africans, but without 
that for squadron. Congressional Globe, 27 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 
328, 331-6 ; Statutes at Large, V. 615. 



APPENDIX B. 273 

1845, Feb. 20. President Tyler's Special Message to Congress. 

Message on violations of Brazilian slave-trade laws by Americans. 
House Jouniai, 28 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 425, 463 ; House Doc, 
28 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 148. Cf. Ibid., 29 Cong, i sess. HI. 
No. 43. 
1346, Aug. 10. United States Statvite: Appropriation. 

" For carrying into eflect the acts for the suppression of the slave 
trade, including the support of recaptured Africans, r<nd their 
removal to their country, twenty-five thousand dollars." Stat- 
utes at Large, IX. 96. 

1849, Dec. 4. President Taylor's Message. 

'• Your attention is earnestly invited to an amendment of our 
existing laws relating to the African slave-trade, with a view to 
the effectual suppression of that barbarous traffic. It is not 
to be denied that this trade is still, in part, carried on by 
means of vessels built in the United States, and owned or 
navigated by some of our citizens." House Exec. Doc., 31 
Cong. I sess. III. No. 5, pp. 7-8. 

1850, Aug. 1. Congress (House) : Bill for "War Steamers. 

" A bill (House, No. 367) to establish a line of war steamers to the 
coast of Africa for the suppression of the slave trade and the 
promotion of commerce and colonization." Read twice, and 
referred to Committee of the Whole. House Journal, 31 
Cong. I sess. pp. 1023, 11 58, 121 7. 
1350, Dec. 16. Congress (House) : Treaty of "Washington. 

" Mr. Burt, by unanimous consent, introduced a joint resolution 
(No. 28) ' to terminate the eighth article of the treaty between 
the United States and Great Britain concluded at Washing- 
ton the ninth day of August, 1842.'" Read twice, and re- 
ferred to the Committee on Naval Affairs. Ibid., 31 Cong. 
2 sess. p. 64. 

1851, Jau 22. Congress (Senate) : Resolution on Sea Letters. 

" The following resolution, submitted by Mr. Clay the 20th instant, 
came up for consideration : — 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be instructed to 
inquire into the expediency of making more effectual provision 
by law to prevent the employment of American vessels and 
American seamen in the African slave trade, and especially as 
to the expediency of granting sea letters or other evidence of 
national character to American vessels clearing out of the 
18 



2/4 APPENDIX B. 

ports of the empire of Brazil for the western coast of Africa." 
Agreed to. Congressional Globe, 31 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 304-9 ; 
Senate Journal, 31 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 95, 102-3. 
1851, Feb. 19. Congress (Senate) : Bill on Slave-Trade, 

"A bill (Senate, No. 472) concerning the intercourse and trade 
of vessels of the United States with certain places on the east- 
ern and western coasts of Africa, and for other purposes." 
Read once. Senate Journal^ 31 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 42, 45, 
S4, 94, 159, 193-4; Congressional Globe, 31 Cong. 2 sess. 
pp. 246-7. 

1851, Dec. 3. Corgress (House): Bill to Amend Act of 1807. 

Mr. Giddings gave notice of a bill to repeal §§9 and 10 of the 
act to prohibii the importation of slaves, etc. from and after 
Jan. I, 1808. House Journal, 32 Cong, i sess. p. 42. Cf. 
Ibid., 2)Z Cong, i ^ess. p. 147. 

1852, Feb. 5. Alabama : Illegal Importations. 
By code approved on this date : — 

§§ 2058-2062. If slaves have been imported contrary to law, 
they are to be sold, and one fourth paid to the agent or in- 
former and the residue to the treasury. An agent is to be 
appointed to take charge of such slaves, who is to give bond. 
Pending controversy, he may hire the slaves out. Ormond, 
Code of Alabatna, pp. 392-3. 

1853, March 3. Congress (Senate) : Appropriation Proposed. 

A bill making appropriations for the naval service for the year end- 
ing June 30, 1854. Mr. Underwood offered the following 
amendment : — 

"For executing the provisions of the act approved 3d of March, 
1819, entitled ' An act in addition to the acts prohibiting the 
slave trade,' $20,000." Amendment agreed to, and bill 
passed. It appears, however, to have been subsequently 
amended in the House, and the appropriation does not stand 
in the final act. Congressional Globe, 32 Cong. 2 sess. p. 1072 ; 
Statutes at Large, X. 214. 

1854, May 22. Congress (Senate) : "West India Slave-Trade. 

Mr. Clayton presented the following resolution, which was unani- 
mously agreed to : — 

''Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Relations be instructed 
to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for such 
restrictions on the power of American consuls residing in the 



APPENDIX B. 275 

Spanish West India islands to issue sea letters on the transfer 
of American vessels in those islands, as will prevent the abuse 
of the American flag in protecting persons engaged in the 
African slave trade." June 26, 1S54, this committee reported 
"a bill (Senate, No. 416) for the more effectual suppression 
of the slave-trade in American built vessels." Passed Senate, 
postponed in House. Senate Journal, TyT^ Cong, i sess. pp. 404, 
457-S, 472-3, 476 ; House Journal, i}, Cong, i sess. pp. 1093, 
1332-3; Congressional Globe, 2>2) Cong, i sess. pp. 1257-61, 
i5"-3> 1591-31 2139. 

1854, May 29. Congress (Senate) : Treaty of Washington. 

Resolved, " that, in the opinion of the Senate, it is expedient, and 
in conformity with the interests and sound policy of the United 
States, that the eighth article of the treaty between this govern- 
ment and Great Britain, of the qth of August, 1842, should be 
abrogated." Introduced by Slidell, and favorably reported 
from Committee on Foreign Relations in Executive Session, 
June 13, 1854. Senate Journal, 34 Cong. 1-2 sess. pp. 396, 
695-8; Senate Reports, 34 Cong, i sess. I. No. 195. 

1854, June 21. Congress (Senate) : Bill Regulating Navigation. 

" Mr. Seward asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (Senate, 
No. 407) to regulate navigation to the coast of Africa in vessels 
owned by citizens of the United States, in certain cases ; which 
was read and passed to a second reading." June 22, ordered 
to be printed. Senate Journal, 33 Cong, i sess. pp. 448, 451 ; 
Congressional Globe, 2,2> Cong, i sess. pp. 1456, 1461, 1472. 

1854, June 26. Congress (Senate) : Bill to Suppress Slave-Trade. 

" A bill for the more effectual suppression of the slave trade in 
American built vessels." See references to May 22, 1854, 
above. 

1856, June 23. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Act of 1818. 
Notice given of a bill to amend the Act of April 20, i8i8. House 
Journal, 34 Cong, i sess. II. iioi. 

1856, Aug. 18. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the Act of March 3, 1819, and subsequent acts, 
IS, 000. Statutes at Large, XI. 90. 

1856, Nov. 24. South Carolina : Governor's Message. 

Governor Adams, in his annual message to the legislature, said : — 
" It is apprehended that the opening of this trade [/. e., the slave- 
trade] will lessen the value of slaves, and ultimately destroy the 



276 APPENDIX B. 

institution. It is a sufficient answer to point to the fact, that 
unrestricted immigration has not diminished the value of labor 
in the Northwestern section of the confederacy. The cry there 
is, want of labor, notwithstanding capital has the pauperism of 
the old world to press into its^rinding service. If we cannot 
supply the demand for slave labor, then we must expect to be 
supplied with a species of labor we do not want, and which is, 
from the very nature of things, antagonistic to our institutions. 
It is much better that our drays should be driven by slaves — 
that our factories should be worked by slaves — that our hotels 
should be served by slaves — that our locomotives should be 
manned by slaves, than that we should be exposed to the intro- 
duction, from any quarter, of a population alien to us by birth, 
training, and education, and which, in the process of time, must 
lead to that conflict between capital and labor, ' which makes 
it so difficult to maintain free institutions in all wealthy and 
highly civilized nations where such institutions as ours do not 
exist.' In all slaveholding States, true policy dictates that the 
superior race should direct, and the inferior perform all menial 
service. Competition between the white and black man for 
this service, may not disturb Northern sensibility, but it 
does not exactly suit our latitude." Sou'h Carolma House 
Journal, 1S56, p. 36 ; Cluskey, Political Text-Book, 14 edition, 

P- 585- 
1856, Dec. 15. Congress (House) : Reopening of Slave-Trade. 

" Resolved, That this House of Representatives regards all sugges- 
tions and propositions of every kind, by whomsoever made, 
for a revival of the African slave trade, as shocking to the moral 
sentiment of the enlightened portion of mankind ; and that any 
action on the part of Congress conniving at or legalizing that 
horrid and inhuman traffic would justly subject the government 
and citizens of the United States to the reproach and execra- 
tion of all civilized and Christian people throughout the world." 
Offered by Mr. Etheridge ; agreed to, 152 to 57. House 
Journal, 34 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 105- 11 ; Congressional Globe, 
34 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 123-5, ^"^^ Appendix, pp. 364-70. 
1856, Dec. 15. Congress (House) : Reopening of Slave-Trade. 

" Resolved, That it is inexpedient to repeal the laws prohibiting the 
African slave trade." Offered by Mr. Orr ; not voted upon. 
Congressional Globe, 34 Cong. 3 sess. p. 123. 



APPENDIX B. 277 

1856, Dec. 15. Congress (House) : Reopening of Slave-Trade. 

" Resolved, That it is tnexpedient, unwise, and contrary to the settled 
policy of the United States, to repeal the laws prohibiting the 
African slave trade." Offered by Mr. Orr ; agreed to, 183 to 8. 
House Journal, 34 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 11 1-3; Congressional 
Globe, 34 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 125-6. 
1856; Dec. 15. Consreas (House) : Reopening of Slave-Trade. 

" Resolved, That the House of Representatives, expressing, as they 
beheve, public opinion both North and South, are utterly op- 
posed to the reopening of the slave trade." Offered by Mr. 
Boyce ; not voted upon. Congressional Globe, 34 Cong. 3 
sess. p. 125. 

1857. South Carolina : Report of Legislative Committee. 
Special committee of seven on the slave-trade clause in the Gover- 
nor's message report : majority report of six members, favoring 
the reopening of the African slave-trade ; minority report of 
Pettigrew, opposing it. Report of the Special Committee, etc., 
published in 1857. 

1857, March 3. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the Act of March 3, 18 19, and subsequent acts, 
$8,000. Statutes at Latge, XI. 22-] ; House Journal, :^^Coug. 
3 sess. p- 397. Cf. House Exec. Doc, 34 Cong. 3 sess. IX. 
No. 70. 

1858, March (?). Louisiana : Bill to Import Africans. 

Passed House ; lost in Senate by two votes. Cf. Congressional 
Globe, 35 Cong, i sess. p. 1362. 
1858, Dec. 6. President Buchanan's Message. 

" The truth is, that Cuba in its existing colonial condition, is a 
constant source of injury and annoyance to the American 
people. It is the only spot in the civilized world where the 
African slave trade is tolerated ; and we are bound by treaty 
with Great Britain to maintain a naval force on the coast of 
Africa, at much expense both of life and treasure, solely for 
the purpose of arresting slavers bound to that island. The 
late serious difficulties between the United States and Great 
Britain respecting the right of search, now so happily ter- 
minated, could never have arisen if Cuba had not afforded 
a market for slaves. As long as this market shall remain 
open, there can be no hope for the civilization of benighted 
Africa. . . . 



278 APPENDIX B. 

"It has been made known to the world by my predecessors that 
the United States have, on several occasions, endeavored to 
acquire Cuba from Spain by honorable negotiation. If this 
were accomplished, the last relic of the African slave trade 
vi^ould instantly disappear. We would not, if we could, acquire 
Cuba in any other manner. This is due to our national char- 
acter. . . . This course we shall ever pursue, unless circum- 
stances should occur, which we do not now anticipate, render- 
ing a departure from it clearly justifiable, under the imperative 
and overruling law of self-preservation." House Exec. Doc, 
35 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 2, pp. 14-5. See also Ibid., pp. 31-3. 

1858, Dec. 23. Congress (House) : Resolution on Slave-Trade. 
On motion of Mr. Farnsworth, 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Naval Affairs be requested to 
inquire and report to this House if any, and what, further legis- 
lation is necessary on the part of the United States to fully 
carry out and perform the stipulations contained in the eighth 
article of the treaty with Great Britain (known as the ' Ash- 
burton treaty ') for the suppression of the slave trade." House 
Journal, 35 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 115-6. 

1859, Jan. 5. Congress (Senate) : Resolution on Slave-Trade. 
On motion of Mr. Seward, Dec. 21, 1858, 

*^ Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary inquire whether 
any amendments to existing laws ought to be made for the 
suppression of the African slave trade." Senate Journal, 35 
Cong. 2 sess. pp. 80, loS, 115. 
1859, Jan. 13. Congress (Senate) : Bill on Slave-Trade. 

Mr. Seward introduced "a bill (Senate, No. 510) in addition to 
the acts which prohibit the slave trade." Referred to com- 
mittee, reported, and dropped, md., pp. 134, 321. 
1859, Jan. 31. Congress (House) : Reopening of Slave-Trade. 

" Mr. Kilgore moved that the rules be suspended, so as to enable 
him to submit the following preamble and resolutions, viz : 

" Whereas the laws prohibiting the African slave trade have become 
a topic of discussion with newspaper writers and political agi- 
tators, many of. them boldly denouncing these laws as unwise in 
policy and disgraceful in their provisions, and insisting on the 
justice and propriety of their repeal, and the revival of the 
odious traffic in African slaves ; and whereas recent demon- 
strations afford strong reasons to apprehend that said laws are 



APPENDIX B. 279 

to be set at defiance, and their violation openly countenanced 
and encouraged by a portion of tlie citizens of some of the 
States of this Union ; and whereas it is proper in view of said 
facts that the sentiments of the people's representatives in 
Congress should be made public in relation thereto : There- 
fore— 

" Resolved, That while we recognize no right on the part of the 
federal government, or any other law-making power, save 
that of the States wherein it exists, to interfere with or disturb 
the institution of domestic slavery where it is established or 
protected by State legislation, we do hold that Congress has 
power to prohibit the foreign traffic, and that no legislation 
can be too thorough in its measures, nor can any penalty known 
to the catalogue of modern punishment for crime be too severe 
against a traffic so inhuman and unchristian. 

" Resolved^ That the laws in force against said traffic are founded 
upon the broadest principles of philanthropy, religion, and 
humanity ; that they should remain unchanged, except so far 
as legislation may be needed to render them more efficient ; 
that they should be faithfully and promptly executed by our 
government, and respected by all good citizens. 

^^ Resolved, That the Executive should be sustained and com- 
mended for any proper efforts whenever and wherever made 
to enforce said laws, and to bring to speedy punishment the 
wicked violators thereof, and all their aiders and abettors." 

Failed of the two-thirds vote necessary to suspend the rules — 
the vote being 1 1 5 to 84 — and was dropped. House Journal, 
35 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 298-9. 
1859, March 3. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the Act of March 3, 1819, and subsequent acts, and 
to pay expenses already incurred, $75,000. Statutes at Large, 
XI. 404. 
1859, Dec. 19. President Buchanan's Message. 

" All lawful means at my command have been employed, and 
shall continue to be employed, to execute the laws against the 
African slave trade. After a most careful and rigorous exami- 
nation of our coasts, and a thorough investigation of the sub- 
ject, we have not been able to discover that any slaves have 
been imported into the United States except the cargo by the 
Wanderer, numbering between three and four hundred. Those 



280 APPENDIX B. 

engaged in this unlawful enterprise have been rigorously prose- 
cuted, but not with as much success as their crimes have de- 
served. A number of them are still under prosecution. [Here 
follows a history of our slave-trade legislation.] 
" These acts of Congress, it is believed, have, with very rare and 
insignificant exceptions, accomplished their purpose. For a 
period of more than half a century there has been no percepti- 
ble addition to the number of our domestic slaves. . . . Reopen 
the trade, and it would be difficult to determine whether the 
effect would be more deleterious on the interests of the master, 
or on those of the native born slave, ..." Senate Exec. 
Doc, 36 Cong. 1 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 5-8. 

1860, March 20. Congress (Senate) : Proposed Resolution. 

" Mr. Wilson submitted the following resolution ; which was con- 
sidered, by unanimous consent, and agreed to : — 
'' Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to 
inquire into the expediency of so amending the laws of the 
United States in relation to the suppression of the African 
slave trade as to provide a penalty of imprisonment for life for 
a participation in such trade, instead of the penalty of forfeiture 
of hfe, as now provided ; and also an amendment of such laws 
as will include in the punishment for said offense all persons 
who fit out or are in any way connected with or interested 
in fitting out expeditions or vessels for the purpose of en- 
gaging in such slave trade." Se?iaie Jour?ial, 2,^ Cong, i sess. 
p. 274. 

1850, March 20. Congress (Senate) : Right of Search. 

" Mr. Wilson asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 
bring in a joint resolution (Senate, No. 20) to secure the right 
of search on the coast of Africa, for the more effectual suppres- 
sion of the African slave trade." Read twice, and referred to 
Committee on Foreign Relations. Ibid. 

1860, March 20. Congress (Senate) : Steam Vessels for Slave- 
Trade, 
" Mr. Wilson asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 
bring in a bill (Senate, No. 296) for the construction of five 
steam screw sloops-of-war, for service on the African coast." 
Read twice, and referred to Committee on Naval Affairs ; 
May 23, reported with an amendment. Ibid., pp. 274, 
494-5- 



APPENDIX B. 281 

I860; March 26. Congress (House) : Proposed Resolutions. 

" Mr. Morse submitted . . . the following resolutions ; which were 
read and committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
the state of the Union, viz : 
*^ Resolved, That for the more effectual suppression of the African 
slave trade the treaty of 1842 . . . , requiring each country to 
keep eighty guns on the coast of Africa for that purpose, should 
be so changed as to require a specified and sufficient number 
of small steamers and fast sailing brigs or schooners to be kept 
on said coast. . . . 

" Resolved, That as the African slave trade appears to be rapidly 
increasing, some effective mode of identifying the nationality of 
a vessel on the coast of Africa suspected of being in the slave 
trade or of wearing false colors should be immediately adopted 
and carried into effect by the leading maritime nations of the 
earth ; and that the government of the United States has thus 
far, by refusing to aid in establishing such a system, shown a 
strange neglect of one of the best means of suppressing said 
trade. 

^^ Resolved, That the African slave trade is against the moral senti- 
ment of mankind and a crime against human nature ; and that 
as the most highly civilized nations have made it a criminal 
offence or piracy under their own municipal laws, it ought at 
once and without hesitation to be declared a crime by the code 
of international law ; and that . . . the President be requested 
to open negotiations on this subject with the leading powers 
of Europe." . . . House Journal, 36 Cong, i sess. I. 5SS-9. 
1860, April 16. Congress (Senate) : Bill on Slave-Trade. 

" Mr. Wilson asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 
bring in a bill (Senate, No. 40S) for the more effectual sup- 
pression of the slave trade." Bill read twice, and ordered to lie 
on the table ; May 21, referred to Committee on the Judiciary, 
and printed. Senate Journal, 36 Cong, i sess. pp. 394, 485 ; 
Congressional Globe, 36 Cong, i sess. pp. 1721, 2207-11. 
1860, May 21. Congress (House) : Buyers of Imported Negroes. 

" Mr. Wells submitted the following resolution, and debate arising 
thereon, it lies over under the rule, viz : 

" Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to 
report forthwith a bill providing that any person purchasing 
any negro or other person imported into this country in vio- 
lation of the laws for suppressing the slave trade, shall not 



282 APPENDIX B. 

by reason of said purchase acquire any title to said negro or 
person ; and where such purchase is made with a knowledge 
that such negro or other person has been so imported, shall 
forfeit not less than one thousand dollars, and be punished by 
imprisonment for a term not less than six months." House 
Journal^ 36 Cong, i sess. II. 880. 
1860, May 26. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the Act of March 3, 1819, and subsequent acts, 
$40,000. Statutes at Large, XII. 21. 
I860, June 16. United States Statute : Additional Act to Act 
of 1819. 
" An Act to amend an Act entitled ' An Act in addition to the 
Acts Prohibiting the Slave Trade.' " Ibid., XII. 40-1 ; Senate 
Journal, 36 Cong, i sess., Senate Bill No. 464. 
1860, July 11. Great Britain : Proposed Co-operation. 

Lord John Russell suggested for the suppression of the trade : — 
" I St. A systematic plan of cruising on the coast of Cuba by the 

vessels of Great Britain, Spain, and the United States. 
" 2d. Laws of registration and inspection in the Island of Cuba, by 
which the employment of slaves, imported contrary to law, 
might be detected by the Spanish authorities. 
" 3d. A plan of emigration from China, regulated by the agents of 
European nations, in conjunction with the Chinese authori- 
ties." President Buchanan refused to co-operate on this 
plan. House Exec. Doc., 36 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 7, pp. 
44i-3» 446-8. 
1860, Dec. 3. President Buchanan's Message. 

" It is with great satisfaction I communicate the fact that since the 
date of my last annual message not a single slave has been im- 
ported into the United States in violation of the laws prohibit- 
ing the African slave trade. This statement is founded upon 
a thorough examination and investigation of the subject. In- 
deed, the spirit which prevailed some time since among a por- 
tion of our fellow-citizens in favor of this trade seems to have 
entirely subsided." Senate Exec. Doc, 2,^ Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i, 
p. 24. 
1860, Dec. 12. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Consti- 
tution. 
Mr. John Cochrane's resolution : — 

" The migration or importation of slaves into the United States or 
any of the Territories thereof, from any foreign country, is here- 



APPENDIX B. 283 

by prohibited." House Journal, 36 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 61-2; 
Cong7'essio)ial Globe, 36 Cong. 2 sess. p- 77. 

1860, Dec. 24. Congress (Senate) : Bill on Slave-Trade. 

" Mr. Wilson asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to 
bring in a bill (Senate, No. 529) for the more effectual sup- 
pression of the slave trade." Read twice, and referred to 
Committee on the Judiciary ; not mentioned again. Senate 
Journal, 36 Cong. 2 sess. p. 62 ; Congressional Globe, 2)^ 
Cong. 2 sess. p. 182. 

1861, Jan. 7. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Constitution. 
Mr. Etheridge's resolution : — 

§ 5. "The migration or importation of persons held to service or 
labor for life, or a term of years, into any of the States, or the Ter- 
ritories belonging to the United States, is perpetually prohibited ; 
and Congress shall pass all laws necessary to make said pro- 
hibition effective." Congressional Globe, 36 Cong. 2 sess. 
p. 279. 
1861, Jan. 23. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Consti- 
tution. 
Resolution of Mr. Morris of Pennsylvania : — 
" Neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature shall make any law 
respecting slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punish- 
ment for crime ; but Congress may pass laws for the suppres- 
sion of the African slave trade, and the rendition of fugitives 
from service or labor in the States." Mr. Morris asked to 
have it printed, that he might at the proper time move it as an 
amendment to the report of the select committee of thirty- 
three. It was ordered to be printed. Ibid.., p. 527. 
1861, Feb. 1. Congress (House) : Proposition to Amend Consti- 
tution. 
Resolution of Mr. Kellogg of Illinois : — 

§ 16. "The migration or importation of persons held to service or 
involuntary servitude into any State, Territory, or place within 
the United States, from any place or country beyond the limits 
of the United States or Territories thereof, is forever prohib- 
ited." Considered Feb. 27, 1861, and lost. Ibid., pp. 690, 
/ 1243, T 259-60. 

1861, Feb. 8. Confederate States of America : Importation Prohibited. 
Constitution for the Provisional Government of the Confederate 
States of America, Article I. Section 7 : — 



284 APPENDIX B. 

" I . The importation of African negroes from any foreign country 
other than the slave-holding States of the United States, is 
hereby forbidden ; and Congress are required to pass such laws 
as shall effectually prevent the same. 

'' 2. The Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduc- 
tion of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy." 
March 11, 1861, this article was placed in the permanent Con- 
stitution. The first line was changed so as to read " negroes of 
the African race." C. S. A. Statutes at Large, 1861-2, pp. 

1861, Feb. 9. Confederate States of America : Statutory Prohibition. 

Be it enacted by the Confederate States of America in Congress 
assembled, That all the laws of the United States of America in 
force and in use in the Confederate States of America on the 
first day of November last, and not inconsistent with the Con- 
stitution of the Confederate States, be and the same are hereby 
continued in force until altered or repealed by the Congress." 
Ibid., p. 27. 

1861, Feb. 19. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To supply deficiencies in the fund hitherto appropriated to carry 
out the Act of March 3, 18 19, and subsequent acts, $900,000. 
Statutes at Large, XII. 132. 

1861, March 2. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the Act of March 3, 1819, and subsequent acts, and 
to provide compensation for district attorneys and marshals, 
$900,000. Ibid., XII. 218-9. 

1861, Dec. 3. President Lincoln's Message. 

" The execution of the laws for the suppression of the African slave 
trade has been confided to the Department of the Interior. It 
is a subject of gratulation that the efforts which have been 
made for the suppression of this inhuman traffic have been re- 
cently attended with unusual success. Five vessels being fitted 
out for the slave trade have been seized and condemned. Two 
mates of vessels engaged in the trade, and one person in equip- 
ping a vessel as a slaver, have been convicted and subjected to 
the penalty of fine and imprisonment, and one captain, taken 
with a cargo of Africans on board his vessel, has been convicted 
of the highest grade of offence under our laws, the punishment 
of which is death." Senate Exec. Doc, 37 Cong. 2 sess. I. 
No. I, p. 13. 



APPENDIX B. 285 

1862, Jan. 27. Congress (Senate) : Bill on Slave-Trade. 

"Agreeably to notice Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, asked and 
obtained leave to bring in a bill (Senate, No. 173), for the more 
effectual suppression of the slave trade." Read twice, and re- 
ferred to Committee on the Judiciary; Feb. 11, 1863, reported 
adversely, and postponed indefinitely. Senate Journal, 37 
Cong. 2 sess. p. 143 ; 37 Cong. 3 sess. pp. 231-2. 

1862, March 14. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

For compensation to United States marshals, district attorneys, 
etc., for services in the suppression of the slave-trade, so much 
of the appropriation of March 2, 1S61, as may be expedient 
and proper, not exceeding in all $10,000. Statutes at Large, 
XII. 36S-9. 

1862, March 25. United States Statute : Prize Law. 

" An Act to facilitate Judicial Proceedings in Adjudications upon 
Captured Property, and for the better Administration of the 
Law of Prize." Applied to captures under the slave-trade 
law. Ibid., XII. 374-5 ; Congressiotial Globe., 37 Cong. 2 sess., 
Appendix, pp. 346-7. 

1862, June 7. Great Britain : Treaty of 1862. 

"Treaty for the suppression of the African slave trade. Con- 
cluded at Washington April 7, 1S62 ; ratifications exchanged 
at London May 20, 1862 ; proclaimed June 7, 1862." Rati- 
fied unanimously by the Senate. U. S. Treaties and Conven- 
tions (1889), pp. 454-66. See also Senate Exec. Journal, XII. 
pp. 230, 231, 240, 254, 391, 400, 403. 

1862, July 11. United States Statute : Treaty of 1862 Carried into 

Effect. 

" An Act to carry into Effect the Treaty between the United States 
and her Britannic Majesty for the Suppression of the African 
Slave-Trade." Statutes at Lai'ge, XII. 531 ; Setiate Journal 
and House Journal, 37 Cong. 2 sess., Senate Bill No. 352. 
1362, July 17. United States Statute : Former Acts Amended. 

" An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to amend an Act en- 
titled " An Act in Addition to the Acts prohibiting the Slave 
Trade."'" Statutes at Large, XIL 592-3 ; Senate Journal 
and House Journal, 37 Cong. 2 sess., Senate Bill No. 385. 

1863, Feb. 4. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the treaty with Great Britain, proclaimed July 1 1, 
1862, ^17,000. Statutes at Large, XII. 639. 



286 APPENDIX B. 

1863, March 3. Congress : Joint Resolution. 

"Joint Resolution respecting the Compensation of the Judges and 
so forth, under the Treaty with Great Britain and other Persons 
employed in the Suppression of the Slave Trade." Statutes 
at Large, XII. 829. 
1863, April 22. Great Britain : Treaty of 1862 Amended. 

" Additional article to the treaty for the suppression of the African 
slave trade of April 7, 1862." Concluded February 17, 1863 j 
ratifications exchanged at London April i, 1863; proclaimed 
April 22, 1863. 

Right of Search extended. U. S. Treaties and Cotiventions 
(1889), pp. 466-7. 

1863, Dec. 17. Congress (House) : Resolution on Coastwise Slave- 

Trade. 
Mr. Julian introduced a bill to repeal portions of the Act of March 
2, 1807, relative to the coastwise slave-trade. Read twice, and 
referred to Committee on the Judiciary. Congressional Globe, 
38 Cong. I sess. p. 46. 

1864, July 2. United States Statute : Coastwise Slave-Trade Pro- 

hibited Forever. 

§ 9 of Appropriation Act repeals §§8 and 9 of Act of 1807. 
Statutes at Large^ XIII. 353. 
1864, Dec. 7. Great Britain : International Proposition. 

" The crime of trading in human beings has been for many years 
branded by the reprobation of all civilized nations. Still the 
atrocious traffic subsists, and many persons flourish on the 
gains they have derived from that polluted source. 

" Her Majesty's government, contemplating, on the one hand, with 
satisfaction the unanimous abhorrence which the crime inspires, 
and, on the other hand, with pain and disgust the slave-trading 
speculations which still subist \jic\, have come to the conclu- 
sion that no measure would be so effectual to put a stop to 
these wicked acts as the punishment of all persons who can be 
proved to be guilty of carrying slaves across the sea. Her 
Majesty's government, therefore, invite the government of the 
United States to consider whether it would not be practicable, 
honorable, and humane 

" I St. To make a general declaration, that the governments who 
are parties to it denounce the slave trade as piracy. 

" 2d. That the aforesaid governments should propose to their legis- 



APPENDIX B. 2 87 

latures to affix the penalties of piracy already existing in their 
laws — provided, only, that the penalty in this case be that of 
death — to all persons, being subjects or citizens of one of the 
contracting powers, who shall be convicted in a court which 
takes cognizance of piracy, of being concerned in carrying 
human beings across the sea for the purpose of sale, or for the 
purpose of serving as slaves, in any country or colony in the 
world." Signed, 

" Russell." 
Similar letters were addressed to France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, 
Prussia, Italy, Netherlands, and Russia. Diplotnatic Corre- 
spondence, 1865, pt. ii. pp. 4, 58-9, etc. 

1865, Jan. 24. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the treaty with Great Britain, proclaimed July 1 1 , 
1862, $17,000. Statutes at Large, XIII. 424. 

1866, April 7. United States Statute : Corapensatiou to Marshals, etc. 
For additional compensation to United States marshals, district 

attorneys, etc., for services in the suppression of the slave- 
trade, so much of the appropriation of March 2, 1861, as may 
be expedient and proper, not exceeding in all $10,000; and 
also so much as may be necessary to pay the salaries of 
judges and the expenses of mixed courts. Ibid., XIV. 23. 

1866, July 25. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the treaty with Great Britain, proclaimed July 11, 
1862, $17,000. Ibid., XIV. 226. 

1867, Feb. 28. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the treaty with Great Britain, proclaimed July 11, 
1 86 2, $17,000. Ibid., XIV. 414-5. 

1868, March 30. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out the treaty with Great Britain, proclaimed July 11, 
1862, $12,500, Ibid, XV. 58. 

1869, Jan. 6. Congress (House) : Abrogation of Treaty of 1862. 

Mr. Kelsey asked unanimous consent to introduce the following 
resolution : — 

" Whereas the slave trade has been practically suppressed ; and 
whereas by our treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of 
the slave trade large appropriations are annually required to 
carry out the provisions thereof : Therefore, 

*' Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Affairs are hereby in- 
structed to inquire into the expediency of taking proper steps 



288 APPENDIX B. 

to secure the abrogation or modification of the treaty with 
Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade." Mr. 
Arnell objected. Congressional Globe^ 40 Cong. 3 sess. p. 224. 

1869, March 3. United States Statute : Appropriation. 

To carry out tlie treaty with Great Britain, proclaimed July 11, 
1862, ^12,500; provided that the salaries of judges be paid 
only on condition that they reside where the courts are held, 
and that Great Britain be asked to consent to abolish mixed 
courts. Statutes at Large, XV. 321 . 

1870, April 22. Congress (Senate) : Bill to Repeal Act of 1803. 
Senate Bill No. 251, to repeal an act entitled "An act to prevent 

the importation of certain persons into certain States where by 
the laws thereof their admission is prohibited." Mr. Sumner 
said that the bill had passed the Senate once, and that he 
hoped it would now pass. Passed ; title amended by adding 
"approved February 28, 1803 ;" June 29, bill passed over in 
House; July 14, consideration again postponed on Mr. Wood- 
ward's objection. Congressional Globe, 41 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 
2894, 2932, 4953, 5594. 

1870, Sept. 16. Great Britain : Additional Treaty. 

"Additional convention to the treaty of April 7, 1862, respecting 
the African slave trade." Concluded June 3, 1870; ratifica- 
tions exchanged at London August 10, 1870; proclaimed 
September 16, 1870. U. S. Treaties and Conventions (1889), 
pp. 472-6. 

1871, Dec. 11. Congress (House) : Bill on Slave-Trade. 

On the call of States, Mr. Banks introduced " a bill (House, No. 
490) to carry into effect article thirteen of the Constitution of 
the United States, and to prohibit the owning or dealing 
in slaves by American citizens in foreign countries." House 
Journal^ 42 Cong. 2 sess. p. 48. 



APPENDIX C. 



TYPICAL CASES OF VESSELS ENGAGED IN THE 
AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE. 

1619-1864. 



This chronological list of certain typical American slavers is not intended to cata- 
logue all known cases, but is designed merely to illustrate, by a few selected 
examples, the character of the licit and the illicit traffic to the United States. 

1619. . Dutch man-of-war, imports twenty Negroes into Vir- 
ginia, the first slaves brought to the continent. Smith, General! 
Historie of Virginia (1626 and 1632), p. 126. 

1645. Eainbowe, under Captain Smith, captures and imports African 
slaves into Massachusetts. The slaves were forfeited and returned. 
Massachusetts Colo?iial Records, II. 115, 129, 136, 168, 176; III. 13, 
46, 49, 58, 84. 

1655. Witte paert, first vessel to import slaves into New York. 
O'Callaghan, Lazvs of New Nethcrlafid (ed. 1S6S), p. 191, note. 

1736, Oct. . Rhode Island slaver, under Capt. John Griffen. 

American Historical Record, I. 312. 

1746. . Spanish vessel, with certain free Negroes, captured 

by Captains John Dennis and Robert Morris, and Negroes sold by 
them in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York ; these Negroes 
afterward returned to Spanish colonies by the authorities of Rhode 
Island. Rhode Islafid Colonial Records, N. 170, 176-7; Dawson's 
Historical Magazine, XVIII. 98. 

19 



290 APPENDIX C. 

1752. Sanderson, of Newport, trading to Africa and West Indies. 

American Historical Record^ I, 315-9, 338-42. Cf. above, p. 28, 

note 5. 
1788 {circa). . "One or two " vessels fitted out in Connec- 
ticut. W. C. Fowler, Histo?-ical Status of the. Negro in CoJinecticut, in 

Local Law, etc., p. 125. 
1801. Sally, of Norfolk, Virginia, equipped slaver; libelled and 

acquitted; owners claimed damages. American State Papers, Cot?i- 

merce and Navigation, I. No. 128. 
1803 (?). • . Two slavers seized with slaves, and brought to 

Philadelphia; both condemned, and slaves apprenticed. Robert 

Sutcliff, Travels in North America, p. 219. 
1804. . Slaver, allowed by Governor Claiborne to land fifty 

Negroes in Louisiana. American State Papers, Miscellaneous, I. 

No. 177. 
1814. Saucy Jack carries off slaves from Africa and attacks British 

cruiser. House Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, p. 46; 21 

Cong. I sess. III. No. 348, p. 147. 
1816 {circa). Paz, Rosa, Dolores, Nueva Paz, and Dorset, American 

slavers in Spanish-African trade. Many of these were formerly priva- 
teers. Ibid., 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, pp. 45-6 ; 21 Cong, i sess. 

III. No. 348, pp. 144-7. 
1817, Jan. 17. Eugene, armed Mexican schooner, captured while 

attempting to smuggle slaves into the United States. House Doc, 

15 Cong. I sess. II. No. 12, p. 22. 

1817, Nov. 19. Tentativa, captured with 128 slaves and brought into 
Savannah. Ibid., p. 38; House Reports, 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 
348, p. 81. See Friefids^ Vieiv of the African Slave Trade (1824), 
pp. 44-7. 

1818. . Three schooners unload slaves in Louisiana. Col- 
lector Chew to the Secretary of the Treasury, House Reports., 21 
Cong. I sess. III. No. 34S, p 70. 

1818, Jan. 23. English brig Neptune, detained by U. S. S. John 

Adams, for smuggling slaves into the United States. House Doc, 16 

Cong. I sess. III. No. 36 (3). 
1818, June. Constitution, captured with 84 slaves on the Florida coast, 

by a United States army officer. See references under iS 18, June, 

below. 
1818, June. Louisa and Merino, captured slavers, smuggling from Cuba 

to the United States ; condemned after five years' litigation. House 



APPENDIX C. 291 

JDoc, 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI. No. 107 ; 19 Cong, i sess. VI.-IX. Nos. 
121, 126, 152, 163; House Reports^ 19 Cong, i sess. II. No. 231 ; 
Afnerican State Papers, Naval Affairs, II. No. 308 ; Decisions of the 
United States Supreme Court in 9 Wheaton, 391. 

1819. Antelope, or General Ramirez. The Colombia (or Arraganta), 
a Venezuelan privateer, fitted in the United States and manned by 
Americans, captures slaves from a Spanish slaver, the Antelope, and 
from other slavers ; is wrecked, and transfers crew and slaves to Ante- 
lope ; the latter, under the name of the General Ramirez, is captured 
with 280 slaves by a United States ship. The slaves were distributed, 
some to Spanish claimants, some sent to Africa, and some allowed to 
remain; many died. House Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, pp. 
5, 15; 21 Cong. I sess. III. No. 348, p. 186; House Journal, 20 
Cong. I sess. pp. 59, 76, 123 to 692, passim. Gales and Seaton, 
Register of Debates, IV. pt. i, pp. 915-6, 955-68, 998, 1005 ; Ibid., 
pt. 2, pp. 2501-3 ; American State Papers, Naval Affairs, II. No. 
319, pp. 750-60; Decisions of the United States Supreme Court in 
ID Wheaton, 66, and 12 Ibid., 546. 

1820. Endymion, Plattsburg, Science, Esperanza, and Alexander, 
captured on the African coast by United States ships, and sent to 
New York and Boston. House Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, 
pp. 6, 15 ; 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 348, pp. 122, 144, 187. 

1820. General Artigas imports twelve slaves into the United States. 
Friends^ View of the African Slave Trade (1824), p. 42. 

1821 (?). Dolphin, captured by United States officers and sent to 
Charleston, South Carolina. Ibid., pp. 31-2. 

1821. La Jeune Eugene, La Daphnee, La Mathilde, and L'Elize, 
captured by U. S. S. Alligator ; La Jeune Eugene sent to Boston ; the 
rest escape, and are recaptured under the French flag ; the French 
protest. House Reports, 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 348, p. 187 ; 
Friends' Fiew of the African Slave Trade (1824), pp. 35-41. 

1821. La Pensee, captured with 220 slaves by the U. S. S. Hornet ; taken 
to Louisiana. House Reports, 17 Cong, i sess. II. No. 92, p. 5 ; 21 
Cong. I sess. III. No. 34S, p. 186. 

1821. Esencia lands 113 Negroes at Matanzas. Parliamentary Papers, 
1822, Vol. XXII., Slave Trade, Further Papers, III. p. 78. 

1826. Fell's Point attempts to land Negroes in the United vStates. The 
Negroes were seized. American State Papers, Naval Affairs, II. No. 

319' P- 751- 

1827, Dec. 20. Guerrero, Spanish slaver, chased by British cruiser and 

grounded on Key West, with 561 slaves ; a part (121) were landed at 



292 APPENDIX C. 

Key West, where they were seized by the collector ; 250 were seized 
by the Spanish and taken to Cuba, etc. House Journal, 20 Cong. 

1 sess. p. 650 ; House Reports, 24 Cong, i sess. I. No. 268 ; 25 Cong. 

2 sess. I. No. 4; Atnerican State Facers, Naval Affairs, III. No. 370, 
p. 210; Niks'' s Register, XXXIII. 373. 

1828, March 11. General Geddes brought into St. Augustine for safe 
keeping 117 slaves, said to have been those taken from the wrecked 
Guerrero and landed at Key West (see above, 1S27). House Doc, 
20 Cong. I sess. VI. No. 262. 

1828. Blue-eyed Mary, of Baltimore, sold to Spaniards and captured 
with 405 slaves by a British cruiser. Niles's Register, XXXIV. 346. 

1830, June 4. Fenix, with 82 Africans, captured by U. S. S. Grampus, 
and brought to Pensacola; American built, with Spanish colors. 
House Doc, 21 Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 54; House Reports, 24 Cong. 
I sess. I. No. 223 ; Niles's Register, XXXVIII. 357. 

1831, Jan. 3. Comet, carrying slaves from the District of Colupnbia to 
New Orleans, was wrecked on Bahama banks and 1 64 slaves taken to 
Nassau, in New Providence, where they were freed. Great Britain 
finally paid indemnity for these slaves. Senate Doc, 24 Cong. 2 
sess. II. No. 174; 25 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 216. 

1834, Feb. 4. Encomium, bound from Charleston, South Carolina, to 
New Orleans, with 45 slaves, was wrecked near Fish Key, Abaco, and 
slaves were carried to Nassau and freed. Great Britain eventually 
paid indemnity for these slaves. Ibid. 

1835, March. Enterprise, carrying 78 slaves from the District of 
Columbia to Charleston, was compelled by rough weatjaer to put 
into the port of Hamilton, West Indies, where the slaves were freed. 
Great Britain refused to pay for these, because, before they landed, 
slavery in the West Indies had been abolished. Ibid. 

1836, Aug.-Sept. Emanuel, Dolores, Anaconda, and Viper, built in 
the United States, clear from Havana for Africa. House Doc, 26 
Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 4-6, 221. 

1837. . Eleven American slavers clear from Havana for 

Africa. Ibid., p. 221. 

1837, Washing'ton, allowed to proceed to Africa by the American 
consul at Havana. Ibid., pp. 488-90, 715 ff. ; 27 Cong, i sess. No. 
34, pp. 18-21. 

1838, Prova spends three months refitting in the harbor of Charleston, 
South Carolina; afterwards captured by the British, with 225 slaves. 
Ibid., pp. 121, 163-6. 



APPEaXDIX c. 293 

1838. . Nineteen American slavers clear from Havana for 

Africa. House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, p. 221. 

1838-9. Venus, American built, manned partly by Americans, owned 
by Spaniards. ~ Ibid., pp. 20-2, 106, 124-5, ^32, i44-5' Zl^-'^i 

475-9- 
1839. Morris Cooper, of Philadelphia, lands 485 Negroes in Cuba. 

Niks' s Register, LVII. 192. 

1839. Edwin and George Crooks, slavers, boarded by British cruisers. 
House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 12-4, 61-4. 

1839. Eagle, Clara, and Wyoming, with American and Spanish flags 
and papers and an American crew, captured by British cruisers, and 
brought to New York. The United States government declined to 
interfere in case of the Eagle and the Clara, and they were taken to 
Jamaica. The Wyoming was forfeited to the United States. Ibid., 
pp. 92-104, 109, 112, 1 18-9, 1S0-4; JVi/es's Register, LVl. 256; 
LVII. 1 28, 208. 

1839. Florida, protected from British cruisers by American papers 
House Doe., 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 113-5. 

1839. . Five American slavers arrive at Havana from Africa, 

under American flags. Ibid., p. 192. 

1839. . Twenty-three American slavers clear from Havana. 

Ibid., pp. 1 90-1, 221. 

1839. Rebecca, part Spanish, condemned at Sierra Leone. House Re- 
ports, 27 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 283, pp. 649-54, 675-84. 

1839. Douglas and lago, American slavers, visited by British cruisers, 
for which the United States demanded indemnity. Ibid., pp. 542-65, 
731-55; Senate Doe., 29 Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 377, pp. 39-45, 
107-12, 116-24, 160-1, 181-2. 

1839, April 9. Susan, suspected slaver, boarded by the British. House 
Doe., 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 34-41. 

1839, July-Sept. Dolphin (or Constitucao), Hound, Mary Cushing 
(or Sete de Avril), with American and Spanish flags and papers. 
Ibid., pp. 28, 51-5, 109-10, 136, 234-8; House Reports, 27 Cong. 
3 sess. III. No. 2S3, pp. 709-15. 

1839, Aug. L'Amistad, slaver, with fifty-three Negroes on board, who 
mutinied ; the vessel was then captured by a United States vessel and 
brought into Connecticut ; the Negroes were declared free. House 
Doe., 26 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 1S5 ; 27 Cong. 3 sess. V. No. 191 ; 
28 Cong. 1 sess. IV. No. 83 ; House E.xee. Doe., 32 Cong. 2 sess. 
III. No. 20; House Reports, 26 Cong. 2 sess. No. 51; 28 Cong. 



294 APPENDIX C. 

1 sess. II. No. 426 ; 29 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 753 ; Senate Doc, 26 
Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 179 ; Senate Exec. Doc, 31 Cong. 2 sess. III. 
No. 29; 32 Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 19; Senate Reports, 31 Cong. 

2 sess. No. 301 ; 32 Cong, i sess. I. No. 158; 35 Cong, i sess. I. No. 
36; Decisions of the United States Supreme Court in 15 Peters, 
518 ; Opiniofis of the Attorneys-Generat, III. 484-92. 

1839, Sept. My Boy, of New Orleans, seized by a British cruiser, and 
condemned at Sierra Leone. Niles^s Register, LVII. 353. 

1839, Sept. 23. Butterfly, of New Orleans, fitted as a slaver, and 
captured by a British cruiser on the coast of Africa. House Doc, 26 
Cong. 2 sess. No. 115, pp. 191, 244-7; Niks'' s Register, LVII, 223. 

1839, Oct. Catharine, of Baltimore, captured on the African coast by 
a British cruiser, and brought by her to New York. House Doc, 26 
Cong. 2 sess. V, No. 115, pp. 191, 215, 239-44; Niles's Register, 
LVIL 119, 159. 

1839. Asp, Laura, and Mary Ann Cassard, foreign slavers sailing 
under the American flag. House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, 
pp. 126-7, 209-18; House Reports, 27 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 2S3, 
p. 688 ff. 

1839. Two Friends, of New Orleans, equipped slaver, with Spanish, 
Portuguese, and American flags. House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. 
No. 115. pp. 120, 160-2, 305. 

1839. Euphrates, of Baltimore, with American papers, seized by British 
cruisers as Spanish property. Before this she had been boarded fifteen 
times. Ibid., pp. 41-4; A. H. Foote, Africa and the American Flag, 
p. 152-6. 

1839. Ontario, American slaver, " sold " to the Spanish on shipping a 
cargo of slaves. House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 45-50. 

1839. Mary, of Philadelphia ; case of a slaver whose nationality was 
disputed. House Reports, 27 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 283, pp. 736-8 ; 
Senate Doc, 29 Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 377, pp. 19, 24-5. 

1840, March. Sarah Ann, of New Orleans, captured with fraudulent 
papers. House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 1S4-7. 

1840, June. Caballero, Hudson, and Crawford ; the arrival of these 
American slavers was publicly billed in Cuba. Ibid., pp. 65-6. 

1840. Tigris, captured by British cruisers and sent to Boston for kid- 
napping. House Reports, 27 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 283, pp. 724-9; 
Senate Doc, 29 Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 377, p. 94. 

1840. Jones, seized by the British. Senate Doc, 29 Cong, i sess. VIII. 
No. 377, pp. 131-2, 143-7) 14S-60. 



APPENDIX C. 295 

1841, Nov. 7. Creole, of Richmond, Virginia, transporting slaves to 
New Orleans ; the crew mutiny and take her to Nassau, British AVest 
Indies. The slaves were freed and Great Britain refused indemnity. 
Senate Doc, 27 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 51 and III. No. 137. 

1841. Sophia, of New York, ships 750 slaves for Brazil. House Doc, 
29 Cong. I sess. III. No. 43, pp. 3-8. 

1841. Pilgrim, of Portsmouth, N. H., Solon, of Baltimore, William 
Jones and Himmaleh, of New York, clear from Rio Janeiro for Africa. 
Ibid., pp. S-12. 

1842, May. Illinois, of Gloucester, saved from search by the American 
flag ; escaped under the Spanish flag, loaded with slaves. Sc?iate Doc.^ 
28 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 150, p. 72 ff. 

1842. June. Shakespeare, of Baltimore, with 430 slaves, captured by 
British cruisers. Ibid. 

1843. Kentucky, of New York, trading to Brazil. Ibid., 30 Cong, i 
sess. IV. No. 28, pp. 71-8 ; House Exec Doc, 30 Cong. 2 sess. VII. 
No. 61, p. 72 ff. 

1844. Enterprise, of Boston, transferred in Brazil for slave-trade. 
Senate Exec Doc, 30 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 28, pp. 79-90. 

1844. Uncas, of New Orleans, protected by United States papers; 

allowed to clear, in spite of her evident character. Ibid., 28 Cong. 

2 sess. IX. No. 150, pp. 106-14. 
1844. Sooy, of Newport, without papers, captured by the British sloop 

Racer, after landing 600 slaves on the coast of Brazil. House Doc, 

28 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 148, pp. 4, 36-62. 

1844. Cyrus, of New Orleans, suspected slaver, captured by the British 
cruiser Alert. Ibid., pp. 3-41. 

1844-5. . Nineteen slavers from Beverly, Boston, Baltimore, 

Philadelphia, New York, Providence, and Portland, make twenty-two 
trips. Ibid., 30 Cong. 2 sess. VII. No. 61, pp. 219-20. 

1844-9. . Ninety-three slavers in Brazilian trade. Senate 

Exec Doc, 31 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 6, pp. 37-8. 

1845. Porpoise, trading to Brazil. House Exec Doc, 30 Cong. 2 sess. 
VII. No. 61, pp. 111-56, 212-4. 

1845, May 14. Spitfire, of New Orleans, captured on the coast of 
Africa, and the captain indicted in Boston. A. H. Foote, Africa ana 
the American Flag, pp. 240-1 ; Niles^s Register, LXVIII. 192, 
224, 248-9. 

1845-6. Patuxent, Pons, Robert "Wilson, Merchant, and Panther, 
captured by Commodore Skinner. House Exec, Doc, 31 Cong, i 
sess. IX. No. 73. 



296 APPENDIX C. 

1847. Fame, of New London, Connecticut, lands 700 slaves in Brazil. 

House Exec. Doc, 30 Cong. 2 sess. VII. No. 6r, pp. 5-6, 15-21. 
1847. Senator, of Boston, brings 944 slaves to Brazil. Ibid., pp. 5-14. 

1849. Casco, slaver, with no papers ; searched, and captured with 420 
slaves, by a British cruiser. Senate Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. XIV. 
No. 66, p. 13. 

1850. Martha, of New York, captured when about to embark 1800 
slaves. The captain was admitted to bail, and escaped. A. H. 
Foote, Africa and the American Flag, pp. 285-92. 

1850. Lucy Ann, of Boston, captured with 547 slaves by the British. 
Senate Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. XIV. No. 66, pp. i-io ff. 

1850. Navarre, American slaver, trading to Brazil, searched and finally 
seized by a British cruiser. Ibid. 

1850 {circa). Louisa Beaton, Pilot, Chatsworth, Meteor, R. de Zaldo, 
Chester, etc., American slavers, searched by British vessels. Ibid., 
passim. 

1851. Sept. 18. Illinois brings seven kidnapped West India Negro boys 
into Norfolk, Virginia. House Exec. Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. XII. No. 
105, pp. 12-14. 

1852-62. . Twenty-six ships arrested and bonded for slave- 
trading in the Southern District of New York. Senate Exec. Doc, 37 
Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 53. 

1852. Advance and Rachel P. Brown, of New York ; the capture of 
these was hindered by the United States consul in the Cape Verd 
Islands. Ibid., 34 Cong, i sess. XV. No. 99, pp. 41-5 ; House Exec. 
Doc, 34 Cong. I sess. XII. No. 105, pp. 15-19- 

1853. Silenus, of New York, and General de Kalb, of Baltimore, 
carry 900 slaves from Africa. Senate Exec Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. 
XV. No. 99, pp. 46-52; House Exec Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. XII. 
No. 105, pp. 20-26. 

1853. Jasper carries slaves to Cuba. Senate Exec. Doc, 34 Cong. 
I sess. XV. No. 99, pp. 52-7. 

1853. Camargo, of Portland, Maine, lands 500 slaves in Brazil. Ibid., 
33 Cong. I sess. VIII. No. 47. 

1854. Glamorgan, of New York, captured when about to embark nearly 
700 slaves. 3id., 34 Cong, i sess. XV. No. 99, pp. 59-60. 

1854. Grey Eagle, of Philadelphia, captured off Cuba by British 

cruiser. Ibid., pp. 61-3. 
1854. Peerless, of New York, lands 350 Negroes in Cuba. Ibid., 

p. 66. 



APPENDIX C. 297 

1854. Oregon, of New Orleans, trading to Cuba. Seriate Exec. Doc, 
34 Cong. I sess. XV. No. 99, pp. 69-70. 

1856. Mary E. Smith, sailed from Boston in spite of efforts to detain 
her, and was, captured with 3S7 slaves, by the Brazilian brig Olinda, at 
port of St. Matthews. Ibid., pp. 71-3. 

1857. . Twenty or more slavers from New York, New 

Orleans, etc. Ibid., 35 Cong, i sess. XII. No. 49, pp. 14-21, 
70-1, etc. 

1857. William Clark and Jupiter, of New Orleans, Eliza Jane, of 
New York, Jos. H. Record, of Newport, and Onward, of Boston, 
captured by British cruisers. Ibid., pp. 13, 25-6, 69, etc. 

1857. James Buchanan, slaver, escapes under American colors, with 

300 slaves. Ibid, p. 38. 
1857. James Titers, of New Orleans, with 1200 slaves, captured by 

British cruiser. Ibid., pp. 31-4, 40-1. 
1857. . Four New Orleans slavers on the African coast. 

Ibid., p. 30. 
1857. Cortes, of New York, captured. Ibid, pp. 27-8. 
1857. Charles, of Boston, captured by British cruisers, with about 400 

slaves. Ibid, pp. 9, 13, 36, 69, etc. 

1857. Adams Gray and W. D. Miller, of New Orleans, fully equipped 
slavers. Ibid., pp. 3-5, 13. 

1857-8. Charlotte, of New York, Charles, of Maryland, etc., reported 
American slavers. Ibid, passim. 

1858, Aug. 21. Echo, captured with 306 slaves, and brought to Charles- 
ton, South Carolina. House Exec. Doc, 35 Cong. 2 sess. II. pt. 4, 
No. 2. pt. 4, pp. 5, 14. 

1858, Sept. 8. Brothers, captured and sent to Charleston, South Caro- 
lina. Ibid., p. 14. 

1858. Mobile, Cortez, Tropic Bird ; cases of American slavers searched 
by British vessels. Ibid., 36 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 7, p. 97 ff. 

1858. Wanderer, lands 500 slaves in Georgia. Senate Exec Doc, 35 
Cong. 2 sess. VII. No. 8 ; House Exec Doc, 35 Cong. 2 sess. IX. 
No. 89. 

1859. Dec. 20. Delicia, supposed to be Spanish, but without papers; 
captured by a United States ship. The United States courts declared 
her beyond their jurisdiction. House Exec Doc, 36 Cong. 2 sess. 
IV. No. 7, p. 434. 

1860. Erie, with 897 Africans, captured by a United States ship. 
Senate Exec. Doc, 36 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i, pp. 41-4. 



298 APPENDIX C. 

1860. William, with 550 slaves, Wildfire, with 507, captured on the 
coast of Cuba. Senate Journal, 36 Cong, i sess. pp. 478-80, 492, 
543, etc.; Senate Exec. Doc, ^d Cong, i sess. XL No. 44; House 
Exec. Doc, 36 Cong, i sess. XII. No. 83 ; 36 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 1 1 ; 
House Rep07-ts, 36 Cong- i sess. IV. No. 602. 

1861. Augusta, slaver, which, in spite of the efforts of the officials, 
started on her voyage. Sefiate Exec Doc, 37 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 
40; New York Tribufie, Nov. 26, 1861. 

1861. Storm King, of Baltimore, lands 650 slaves in Cuba. Senate 
Exec. Doc, 38 Cong, i sess. No. 56, p. 3. 

1862. Ocilla, of Mystic, Connecticut, lands slaves in Cuba. Ibid., 
pp. 8-13. 

1864. Huntress, of New York, under the American flag, lands slaves 
in Cuba. Ibid., pp. 19-21. 



APPENDIX D. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



COLONIAL LAWS. 



[The Library of Harvard College, the Boston Public Library, and the Charle- 
magne Tower Collection at Philadelphia are especially rich in Colonial Laws.] 

Alabama and Mississippi Territory. Acts of the Assembly of Ala- 
bama, 1822, etc.; J. J. Ormond, Code of Alabama, Montgomery, 
1852 ; H. Toulmin, Digest of the Laws of Alabama, Cahawba, 
1823 ; A. Hutchinson, Code of Mississippi, Jackson, 1848 ; Stat- 
utes of Mississippi etc., digested, Natchez, 181 6 and 1823. 

Connecticut. Acts and Laws of Connecticut, New London, 1784 
[-1794], and Hartford, 1796; Connecticut Colonial Records; 
The General Laws and Liberties of Connecticut Colonic, Cam- 
bridge, 1673, reprinted at Hartford in 1865; Statute Laws of 
Connecticut, Hartford, 182 1. 

Delaware. Laws of Delaware, 1700-1797, 2 vols., New Castle, 1797. 

Georgia. George W. J. De Renne, editor, Colonial Acts of Georgia, 
Wormsloe, 188 1 ; Constitution of Georgia ; T. R. R. Cobb, Digest 
of the Laws, Athens, Ga., 185 1 ; Horatio Marbury and W. H. 
Crawford, Digest of the Laws, Savannah, 1S02 ; Oliver H. Prince, 
Digest of the Laws, 2d edition, Athens, Ga., 1S37. 

Mari'land. James Bisset, Abridgment of the Acts of Assembly, 
Philadelphia, 1759; Acts of Maryland, 1753-1768, Annapolis, 
1754 [-1768] ; Compleat Collection of the Laws of Maryland, 
Annapolis, 1727; Thomas Bacon, Laws of Maryland at Large, 
Annapolis. 1765; Laws of Maryland since 1763, Annapolis, 
1787, year 1771 ; Clement Dorsey, General Public Statutory Law, 
etc., 1692-1837, 3 vols., Baltimore, 1840. 



300 APPENDIX D. 

Massachusetts. Acts and Laws of His Majesty's Province of the Mas- 
sachusetts-Bay in New-England, Boston, 1726 ; Acts and Resolves 
... of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, 1 692-1 780 
[Massachusetts Province Laws] ; Colonial Laws of Massachu- 
setts, reprinted from the editions of 1660 and 1672, Boston, 
1887, 1S90J General Court Records; Massachusetts Archives; 
Massachusetts Historical Society Collections ; Perpetual Laws of 
Massachusetts, 1 780-1 7S9, Boston, 1789; Plymouth Colony 
Records ; Records of the Governor and Company of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay. 

New Jersey. Samuel Allinson, Acts of Assembly, Burlington, 1776; 
WiUiam Paterson, Digest of the Laws, Newark, iSoo; William 
A. Whitehead, editor, Documents relating to the Colonial History 
of New Jersey, Newark, 18S0-93 ; Joseph Bloomfield, Laws of 
New Jersey, Trenton, 181 1 ; New Jersey Archives. 

New York. Acts of Assembly, 1691-1718, London, 1719; E. B. 
O'Callaghan, Documentary History of New York, 4 vols., Albany, 
1849-51 ; E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Documents relating to the 
Colonial History of New York, 12 vols., Albany, 1856-77; Laws 
of New York, 1752-1762, New York, 1762 ; Laws of New York, 
1 777-1801, 5 vols., republished at Albany, 1S86-7. 

North Carolina. F. X. Martin, Iredell's Public Acts of Assembly, 
Newbern, 1804; Laws, revision of 1819, 2 vols , Raleigh, 182 1 ; 
North Carolina Colonial Records, edited by William L. Saunders, 
Raleigh, 18S6-90. 

Pennsylvania. Acts of Assembly, Philadelphia, 1 782 ; Charter and 
Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, 1879 ; M. 
Carey and J. Bioren, Laws of Pennsylvania, 1 700-1802, 6 vols., 
Philadelphia, 1S03 ; A.J.Dallas, Laws of Pennsylvania, 1700- 
1781, Philadelphia, 1797; Ibid., 1781-1 790, Philadelphia, 1793; 
Collection of all the Laws now in force, 1 742 ; Pennsylvania 
Archives ; Pennsylvania Colonial Records. 

Rhode Island. John Russell Bartlett, Index to the Printed Acts and 
Resolves, of . . . the General Assembly, 17 56-1 850, Providence, 
1856 ; Elisha R. Potter, Reports and Documents upon Public 
Schools, etc., Providence, 1855 ; Rhode Island Colonial Records. 

South Carolina. J. F. Grimke', Public Laws, Philadelphia, 1 790 ; 
Thomas Cooper and D.J. McCord, Statutes at Large, 10 vols., 
Columbia, 1836-41. 

Vermont. Statutes of Vermont, Windsor, 1787 ; Vermont State Papers, 
Middlebury, 1823. 



APPENDIX D. 301 

Virginia. John Mercer, Abridgement of the Acts of Assembly, Glasgow. 
1759; Acts of Assembly, Williamsburg, 1769; Collection of 
Public Acts . . . passed since 1768, Richmond, 1 7S5 ; Collections 
of the Virginia Historical Society ; W. W. Hening, Statutes at 
Large, i2> vols., Richmond, etc., 1819-23; Samuel Shepherd, 
Statutes at Large, New Series (continuation of Hening), 3 vols. 
Richmond, 1835-6. 

UNITED STATES DOCUMENTS. 

1789-183S. American State Papers — Class L, Foreign Relatiofis, Vols. 
HL and IV. (Reprint of Foreign Relations, 17S9-1S28.) Class 
VL, Naval Affairs. (Well indexed.) 

1794, Feb. 11. Report of Committee on the Slave Trade. Aiiier. 
State Papers, Miscellaneous, L No. 44. 

1806, Feb. 17. Report of the Committee appointed on the seventh 
instant, to inquire whether any, and if any, what Additional Pro- 
visions are necessary to Prevent the Importation of Slaves into 
the Territories of the United States. House Reports^ 9 Cong. 
I sess. II. 

1817, Feb. 11. Joint Resolution for abolishing the trafifick in Slaves, 
and the Colinization \_sic\ of the Free People of Colour of the 
United States. House Doc, 14 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 77. 

1817, Dec. 15. Message from the President . . . communicating In- 
formation of the Proceeding of certain Persons who took Posses- 
sion of Amelia Island and of Galvezton, [j-zV] during the Summer 
of the Present Year, and made Establishments there. House Doc., 
15 Cong. I sess. II. No. 12. (Contains much evidence of illicit 
traffic.) 

1818, Jan. 10. Report of the Committee to whom was referred so 
much of the President's Message as relates to the introduction of 
Slaves from Amelia Island. House Doc, 15 Cong, i sess. III. 
No. 46 (cf. House Reports, 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 348). 

1818, Jan. 13. Message from the President . . . communicating in- 
formation of the Troops of the United States having taken pos- 
session of Amelia Island, in East Florida. House Doc, i^Cor\g. 
I sess. III. No. 47. (Contains correspondence.) 

1819, Jan. 12. Letter from the Secretary of the Nav}', transmitting 
copies of the instructions which have been issued to Naval Com- 
manders, upon the subject of the Importation of Slaves, etc. 
House Doc, 15 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 84. 



302 APPENDIX D. 

1819, Jan. 19. Extracts from Documents in the Departments of State, 
of the Treasury, and of the Navy, hi relation to the IlHcit In- 
troduction of Slaves into the United States. House Doc, 15 
Cong. 2 sess. VI. No. 100. 

1819, Jan. 21. Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury ... in 
relation to Ships engaged in the Slave Trade, which have been 
Seized and Condemned, and the Disposition which has been made 
of the Negroes, by the several State Governments, under whose 
Jurisdiction they have fallen. House Doc, 15 Cong. 2 sess. VI. 
No. 107. 

1820, Jan. 7. Letter from the Secretary of the Navy, transmitting 
information in relation to the Introduction of Slaves into the 
United States. House Doc, 16 Cong, i sess. III. No. 36. 

1820, Jan. 13. Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting 
. . . Information in relation to the Illicit Introduction of Slaves 
into the United States, etc., Ibid., No. 42. 

1820, May 8. Report of the Committee to whom was referred ... so 
much of the President's Message as relates to the Slave Trade, etc. 
House Reports, 16 Cong, i sess. No. 97. 

1821, Jan. 5. Message from the President . . . transmitting . . . In- 
formation on the Subject of the African Slave Trade. House 
Doc^ 16 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 48. 

1821, Feb. 7. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Reports, 
17 Cong. I sess. No. 92, pp. 15-21. 

1821, Feb. 9. Report of the Committee to which was referred so much 
of the President's message as relates to the Slave Trade. House 
Reports, 16 Cong. 2 sess. No. 59. 

1822, April 12. Report of the Committee on the Suppression of the 
Slave Trade. Also Report of 182 1, Feb. 9, reprinted. (Contains 
discussion of the Right of Search, and papers on European Con- 
ference for the Suppression of the Slave Trade.) House Reports, 
1 7 Cong. I sess. II. No. 92. 

1S23, Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 18 
Cong. I sess. I. No. 2, p. in, ff. ; Amer. State Papers, Naval 
Affairs, I. No. 25S. (Contains reports on the estabhshment at 
Cape Mesurado.)-^ 

1324, March 20. Message from the President ... in relation to the 
Suppression of the African Slave Trade. House Doc, 18 Cong. 

1 The Reports of the Secretary of the Navy are found among the documents 
accompanying the annual messages of the President. 



APPENDIX D. 303 

I sess. VI. No. 119. (Contains correspondence on the proposed 
treaty of 1S24.) 

1824, Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Amcr. State 
Papers^ Naval Affairs, I. No. 249. 

1324, Dec. 7. Documents accompanying the Message of the President 
... to both Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the 
Second Session of the Eighteenth Congress : Documents from the 
Department of State. House Doc, 18 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i. pp. 
1-56. Reprinted in Senate Doc, 18 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i. 
(Matter on the treaty of 1824.) 

1825, Feb. 16. Report of the Committee to whom was referred so 
much of the President's Message, of the 7th of December last, as 
relates to the Suppression of the Slave Trade. House Reports, 18 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 70. (Report favoring the treaty of 1824.) 

1825, Dec. 2. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 19 
Cong. I sess. I. No. i. p. 98. 

1825, Dec. 27. Slave Trade : Message from the President . . . com- 
municating Correspondence- with Great Britain in relation to the 
Convention for Suppressing the Slave Trade. House Doc, 19 
Cong. I sess. I. No. 16. 

1826, Feb. 6. Appropriation — Slave Trade : Report of the Committee 
of Ways and Means on the subject of the estimate of appropria- 
tions for the service of the year 1826. House Reports, 19 Cong. 

1 sess. I. No. 65. (Contains report of the Secretary of the Navy 
and account of expenditures for the African station.) 

1826, March, 8. Slave Ships in Alabama : Message from the President 
... in relation to the Cargoes of certain Slave Ships, etc. House 
Doc, 19 Cong. I sess. VI. No. 121 ; cf. Ibid., VIII. No. 126, and 
IX. Nos. 152, 163 ; also House Reports, 19 Cong, i sess. II. No. 
231. (Cases of the Constitution, Louisa, and Merino.) 

1826, Dec. 2. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. (Part IV. of 
Documents accompanying the President's Message.) House Doc, 
19 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 9, 10, 74-103. 

1827, etc. Colonization Society: Reports, etc. House Doc, 19 Cong. 

2 sess. IV. Nos. 64, 69; 20 Cong, i sess. III. Nos. 99, 126, and 
V. No. 193 ; 20 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 114, 127-8 ; 21 Cong. 
2 sess. T. No. 2, p. 211-18 j House Reports, 19 Cong. 2 sess. II. 
No. loi ; 21 Cong, i sess. II. No. 277, and III. No. 348; 22 
Cong. I sess. II. No. 277. 

1827, Jan. 30. Prohibition of the Slave Trade: Statement showing the 



304 APPENDIX D. 

Expenditure of the Appropriation for the Prohibition of the Slave 
Trade, during the year 1826, and an Estimate for 1827. House 
Doc, 19 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 69. 
1827, Dec. 1 and Dec. 4. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. 
Amer. State Papers, Naval Affairs, III. Nos. 339, 340. 

1827, Dec. 6. Message from the President . . . transmitting ... a 
Report from the Secretary of the Navy, showing the expense 
annually incurred in carrying into effect the Act of March 2, 18 19, 
for Prohibiting the Slave Trade. Setiate Doc, 20 Cong, i sess. I. 
No. 3. 

1828, March 12. Recaptured Africans : Letter from the Secretary of 
the Navy ... in relation to . . . Recaptured Africans. House 
Doc, 20 Cong. I sess, V. No. 193 ; cf Ibid., 20 Cong. 2 sess. I. 
No. 2, pp. 114, 127-8; also Amer. State Papers, Naval Affairs, 
III. No. 357. 

1823, April 30. Africans at Key West : Message from the President 
. . . relative to the Disposition of the Africans Landed at Key 
West. House Doc, 20 Cong, i- sess. VI. No. 262. 

1828, Nov. 27. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Amer. State 
Papers, Naval Affairs., III. No. 370. 

1829, Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 21 
Cong. I sess. I. No. 2, p. 40. 

1830, April 7. Slave Trade . . . Report : " The committee to whom 
were referred the memorial of the American Society for colonizing 
the free people of color of the United States ; also, sundry memo- 
rials from the inhabitants of the State of Kentucky, and a memo- 
rial from certain free people of color of the State of Ohio, report," 
etc., 3 pp. Appendix. Collected and arranged by Samuel Burch. 
290 pp. House Reports, 21 Cong, i sess. III. No. 348. (Con- 
tains a reprint of legislation and documents from 14 Cong. 2 sess. 
to 21 Cong. I sess. Very valuable.) 

1830, Dec, 6. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 2 1 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 42-3 ; Amer. State Papers, Naval 
Affairs, III. No. 429 E. 

1830, Dec. 6. Documents communicated to Congress by the President 
at the opening of the Second Session of the Twenty-first Congress, 
accompanying the Report of the Secretary of the Navy : Paper E. 
Statement of expenditures, etc., for the removal of Africans to 
Liberia. House Doc, 21 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 21 1-8. 

1831 Jan. 18. Spanish Slave Ship Fenix : Message from the President 



APPENDIX D. 305 

. . . transmitting Documents in relation to certain captives on 
board the Spanish slave vessel, called the Fenix. House Doc, 2 1 
Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 54 ; Amcr. State Papers, Naval Affairs, 

III. No. 435- 
1831-1835. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 22 
Cong. I sess. I. No. 2, pp. 45, 272-4; 22 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, 
pp. 48, 229; 23 Cong. I sess. I. No. i, pp. 23S, 269; 23 Cong. 

2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 315, 2,^2^ \ 24 Cong, i sess. I. No. 2, pp. 336, 

3 78. Also Amer. State Papers, Naval Affairs, IV. No. 457, R. 
Nos. I, 2 ; No. 486, H. I. ; No. 519, R. ; No. 564, P. ; No. 585, P. 

1836, Jan. 26. Calvin Mickle, Ex'r of Nagle & De Frias. House Re- 
ports, 24 Cong. I sess. I. No. 209. (Reports on claims connected 
with the captured slaver Constitution.) 

1836, Jan. 27, etc. [Reports from the Committee of Claims on cases 
of captured Africans.] House Reports, 24 Cong, i sess. I. Nos. 
223, 268, and III. No. 574. No. 268 is reprinted in House Re- 
ports, 25 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 4. 

1836, Dec. 3. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 24 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 450, 506. 

1837, Feb. 14. Message from the President . . . with copies of Cor- 
respondence in relation to the Seizure of Slaves on board the brigs 
" Encomium " and " Enterprise." Senate Doc, 24 Cong. 2 sess. 
II. No. 174 ; cf. Ibid., 25 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 216. 

1837-1839. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 25 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 3, pp. 762, 771, 850; 25 Cong. 3 sess. I. 
No. 2, p. 613 ; 26 Cong, i sess. I. No. 2, pp. 534, 612. 

1839. [L'Amistad Case.] House Doc, 26 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 
1 85 (correspondence) ; 27 Cong. 3 sess. V. No. 191 (correspond- 
ence) ; 28 Cong. I sess. IV. No. 83 ; House Exec Doc, 32 Cong. 
2 sess. III. No. 20; House Reports, 26 Cong. 2 sess. No. 51 
(case of altered Ms.) ; 28 Cong, i sess. II. No. 426 (Report of 
Committee) ; 29 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 753 (Report of Commit- 
tee) ; Senate Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 179 (correspondence) ; 
Senate Exec. Doc, 7,\ Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 29 (correspondence); 
32 Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 19; Senate Reports, 31 Cong. 2 sess. 
No. 301 (Report of Committee) ; 32 Cong, i sess. I. No. 158 
(Report of Committee) ; 35 Cong, i sess. I. No. t,6 (Report of 
Committee). 

1840, May 18. Memorial of the Society of Friends, upon the subject 
of the foreign slave trade. House Doc, 26 Cong, i sess. VI. No. 
2 11. (Results of certain investigations.) 



306 APPENDIX D. 

1840, Dec. 5. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 
26 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 405, 450. 

1841, Jan. 20. Message from the President . . . communicating . . . 
copies of correspondence, imputing malpractices to the American 
consul at Havana, in regard to granting papers to vessels engaged 
in the slave-trade. Senate Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. III. No. 125. 
(Contains much information.) 

1841, March 3. Search or Seizure of American Vessels, etc. : Message 
from the President . . . transmitting a report from the Secretary 
of State, in relation to seizures or search of American vessels on 
the coast of Africa, etc. House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115 
(elaborate correspondence). See also Ibid., 27 Cong, i sess. No. 
34; House Reports, 27 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 283, pp. 478-755 
(correspondence) . 

1841, Dec. 4. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 27 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, pp. 349, 351. 

1842, Jan. 20. Message from the President . . . communicating . . . 
copies of correspondence in relation to the mutiny on board the 
brig Creole, and the liberation of the slaves who were passengers in 
the said vessel. Senate Doc, 27 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 51. See 
also Ibid., III. No. 137 ; House Doc, 27 Cong. 3 sess. I. No. 2, 
p. 114. 

1842, May 10. Resolutions of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi 
in reference to the right of search, and the case of the Ameri- 
can brig Creole. House Doc, 27 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 215. 
(Suggestive.) 

1842, etc. [Quintuple Treaty and Cass's Protest : Messages of the 
President, etc.] House Doc, 27 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 249 ; Senate 
Doc, 27 Cong. 3 sess. II. No. 52, and IV. No. 223 ; 29 Cong. 

1 sess. VIII. No. 377. 

1842, June 10. Indemnities for slaves on board the Comet and En- 
comium : Report of the Secretary of State. House Doc, 27 Cong. 

2 sess. V. No. 242. 

1842, Aug. Suppression of the African Slave Trade — Extradition : 
Case of the Creole, etc. House Doc, 27 Cong. 3 sess. 1. No. 2, 
pp. 105-136. (Correspondence accompanying Message of 
President.) 

1842, Dec. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc., 27 
Cong. 3 sess. I. No. 2, p. 532. 

1842^ Dec. 30. Message from the President ... in relation to the 



APPENDIX D. 307 

strength and expense of the squadron to be employed on the coast 
of Africa. Senate Doc, 27 Cong. 3 sess. II. No. 20. 

1843, Feb. 23. Construction of the Treaty of Washington, etc. : Mess- 
at^e from the President . , . transmitting a report from the Secre- 
tary of State, in answer to the resolution of the House of the 
22d February, 1S43. House Doc, 27 Cong. 3 sess. V. No. 192. 

1843, Feb. 28. African Colonization. . . . Report : " The Committee 
on Commerce, to whom was referred the memorial of the friends 
of African colonization, assembled in convention in the city of 
Washington in May last, beg leave to submit the following report," 
etc. (16 pp.). Appendix. (107 1 pp.). House Reports, 27 
Cong. 3 sess. III. No. 2S3 [Contents of Appendix: pp. 17-40S, 
identical nearly with the Appendix to House Reports, 21 Cong. 
I sess. III. No. 34S; pp. 40S-478. Congressional history of the 
slave-trade, case of the Fenix, etc. (cf. House Doc, 21 Cong. 2 
sess. III. No. 54) ; pp. 478-729, search and seizure of American 
vessels (same as House Doc, 26 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 115, pp. 
1-252); pp. 730-755, correspondence on British search of Ameri- 
can vessels, etc. ; pp. 756-61, Quintuple Treaty ; pp. 762-3, Presi- 
dent's Message on Treaty of 1842; pp. 764-96, correspondence 
on African squadron, etc.; pp. 796-1 0S8, newspaper extracts on 
the slave-trade and on colonization, report of Colonization 
Society, etc.] 

1843, Nov. 25. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 28 
Cong. I sess. I. No. 2, pp. 4S4-5. 

1844, March 14. Message from the President . . . communicating 
. . . information in relation to the abuse of the flag of the United 
States in . . . the African slave trade, etc. Senate Doc, 2S Cong. 
I sess. IV. No 217. 

1844, March 15. Report : " The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom 
was referred the petition of . . . John Hanes, . . . praying an 
adjustment of his accounts for the maintenance of certain cap- 
tured African slaves, ask leave to report," etc. Senate Doc, 28 
Cong. I sess. IV. No, 194. 

1844, May 4. African Slave Trade: Report: "The Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred the petition of the Ameri- 
can Colonization Society and others, respectfully report," etc. 
House Reports, 28 Cong, i sess. II. No. 469. 

1844, May 22. Suppression of the Slave-Trade on the coast of Africa : 
Message from the President, etc. House Doc^ 28 Cong, i sess. 
VI. No. 263. 



308 APPENDIX D. 

1844, Nov. 25. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 28 
Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 2, p. 514. 

1845, Feb. 20. Slave-Trade, etc. : Message from the President . . . 
transmitting copies of despatches from the American minister at 
the court of Brazil, relative to the slave-trade, etc. House Doc, 

28 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. 148. (Important evidence, statistics, etc.) 
1845, Feb. 26. Message from the President . . . communicating . . . 

information relative to the operations of the United States squad- 
ron, etc. Senate Doc, 28 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 150. "(Contains 
reports of Commodore Perry, and statistics of Liberia.) 
1845, Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 29 
Cong. I sess, I. No. 2, p. 645. 

1845, Dec. 22. African Slave-Trade : Message from the President . . . 
transmitting a report from the Secretary of State, together with the 
correspondence of George W. Slacum, relative to the African 
slave trade. House Doc, 29 Cong, i sess. III. No. 43. (Con- 
tains much information.) 

1846, June 6. Message from the President . . . communicating . . . 
copies of the correspondence between the government of the 
United States and that of Great Britain, on the subject of the 
right of search ; with copies of the protest of the American min- 
ister at Paris against the quintuple treaty, etc. Senate Doc, 29 
Cong. I sess. VIII. No. 377. Cf. Ibid., 27 Cong. 3 sess. II. No. 
52, and IV. No. 223; House Doc, 27 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 249. 

1846-1847, Dec. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. House Doc, 

29 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 4, p. 377 ; 30 Cong, i sess. II. No. 8, 
p. 946. 

1848, March 3. Message from the President . . . communicating a 
report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence of Mr. 
Wise, late United States minister to Brazil, in relation to the slave 
trade. Senate Exec Doc, 30 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 28. (Full 
of facts.) 

1S48, May 12. Report of the Secretary of State, in relation to . . . 

the seizure of the brig Douglass by a British cruiser. Senate Exec 

Doc, 30 Cong. I sess. VI. No. 44. 
18-18, Dec. 4. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec 

Doc, 30 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. i, pp. 605, 607. 

1849, March 2. Correspondence between the Consuls of the United 
States at Rio de Janeiro, etc., with the Secretary of State, on the 
subject of the African Slave Trade : Message of the President, 



APPENDIX D. 309 

etc. House Exec. Doc., 30 Cong. 2 sess. VI [. No. 61. (Con- 
tains much evidence.) 

1849. Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec. Doc, 

31 Cong. I sess. III. pt. i, No. 5, pt. i, pp. 437-8. 

1850. March 18. Report of the Secretary of the Navy, showing the 
annual number of deaths in the United States squadron on the 
coast of Africa, and the annual cost of that squadron. Senate 
Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. X. No. 40. 

1850, July 22. African Squadron : Message from the President . . . 
transmitting Information in reference to the African squadron. 
House Exec. Doc, 31 Cong, i sess. IX. No. 73. (Gives total ex- 
penses of the squadron, slavers captured, etc.) 

1850, Aug. 2. Message from the President . . . relative to the search- 
ing of American vessels by British ships of war. Seriate Exec 
Doc, 31 Cong. I sess. XIV. No. dd. 

1850, Dec. 17. Message of the President . . . communicating ... a 
report of the Secretary of State, with documents relating to the 
African slave trade. Senate Exec Doc, 31 Cong. 2 sess. II. No, 6. 

1351-1853. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec. Doc, 

32 Cong. I sess. II. pt. 2, No. 2, pt. 2, pp. 4-5 ; 32 Cong. 2 
sess. I. pt. 2, No. I, pt. 2, p. 293 ; t^2> Cong, i sess. I. pt. 3, No. i, 
pt. 3, pp. 29S-9. 

1854, March 13. Message from the President . . . communicating 
... the correspondence between Mr. Schenck, United States Min- 
ister to Brazil, and the Secretary of State, in relation to the African 
slave trade. Senate Exec. Doc, t,t, Cong, i sess. VIII. No. 47. 

1854, June 13. Report submitted by Mr. SHdell, from the Committee on 
Foreign Relations, on a resolution relative to the abrogation of the 
eightli article of the treaty with Great Britain of the 9th of August, 
1842, etc. Senate Reports, i^QovLg. i sess. I. No. 195. (Injunc- 
tion of secrecy removed June 26, 1856.) 

1854-1855, Dec. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec 
Doc, zz Cong. 2 sess. I. pt. 2, No. i, pt. 2, pp. 386-7 ; 34 Cong. 
I sess. I. pt. 3, No. I, pt. 3, p. 5. 

1856, May 19. Slave and Coolie Trade : Message from the President 
. . . communicating information in regard to the Slave and Coolie 
trade. House Exec Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. XII. No. 105. (Partly 
reprinted in Senate Exec Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. XV. No. 99.) 

1856, Aug. 5. Report of the Secretary of State, in compliance with a 
resolution of the Senate of April 24, calling for information relative 



3IO APPENDIX D. 

to the coolie trade. Senate Exec. Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. XV. 
No. 99. (Partly reprinted in House Exec. Doc, 34 Cong, i sess. 
XII. No. 105.) 

1856, Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec. Doc, 

34 Cong. 3 sess. I. pt. 2, No. i, pt. 2, p. 407. 

1857, Feb. 11. Slave Trade : Letter from the Secretary of State, asking 
an appropriation for the suppression of the slave trade, etc. House 
Exec Doc, 34 Cong. 3 sess. IX. No. 70. 

1857, Dec. 3. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec. 
Doc, 35 Cong. I sess. II. pt. 3, No. 2, pt. 3, p. 576. 

1858, April 23. Message of the President . . . communicating . . . 
reports of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Navy, 
with accompanying papers, in relation to the African slave trade. 
Senate Exec Doc, 35 Cong, i sess. XII. No. 49. (Valuable.) 

1858, Dec. 6. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec Doc, 

35 Cong. 2 sess. II. pt. 4, No. 2, pt. 4, pp. 5, 13-4. 

1859, Jan. 12. Message of the President . . . relative to the landing of 
the barque Wanderer on the coast of Georgia, etc. Senate Exec. 
Doc, 35 Cong. 2 sess. VII. No. 8. See also House Exec. Doc, 35 
Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 89. 

1859, March 1. Instructions to African squadron : Message from the 
President, etc. House Exec. Doc, 35 Cong. 2 sess. IX. No. 104. 

1859, Dec. 2. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Senate Exec Doc, 

36 Cong. I sess. III. No. 2, pt. 3, pp. 1 138-9, 1149-50. 

1860, Jan. 25. Memorial of the American Missionary Association, pray- 
ing the rigorous enforcement of the laws for the suppression 0^ 
the African slave-trade, etc. Senate Misc. Doc, 36 Cong, i sess. 
No. 8. 

1860, April 24. Message from the President . . . in answer to a resolu- 
tion of the House calling for the number of persons . . . belong- 
ing to the African squadron, who have died, etc. House Exec. 
Doc, 36 Cong. I sess. XII. No. 73. 

1860, May 19. Message of the President . . • relative to the capture 
of the slaver Wildfire, etc. Senate Exec. Doc, 36 Cong, i sess. 

XI. No. 44. 

1860, May 22. Capture of the slaver " William " : Message from the 
President . . . transmitting correspondence relative to the capture 
of the slaver " William," etc. House Exec. Doc, 36 Cong, i sess. 

XII. No. Zz- 

1860, May 31. The Slave Trade . . . Report : " The Committee on the 



APPENDIX D. 



311 



Judiciary, to whom was referred Senate Bill No. 464, . . . together 
with the messages of the President . . . relative to the capture 
of the slavers 'Wildfire' and 'William,' . . . respectfully re- 
port," etc. House Reports, 36 Cong, i sess. IV. No. 602. 

18S0, June 16. Recaptured Africans : Letter from the Secretary of the 
Interior, on the subject of the return to Africa of recaptured 
Africans, etc. House Misc. Doc, 36 Cong, i sess. VII. No. 96. 
Cf. Ibid., No. 97, p. 2. 

1860, Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Senaie Exec. Doc, 

36 Cong. 2 sess. III. pt. i, No. i, pt. 3, pp. S-9. 

1860, Dec. 6. African Slave Trade : Message from the President . . , 
transmitting ... a report from the Secretary of State in refer- 
ence to the African slave trade. House Exec. Doc, 36 Cong. 
2 sess. IV. No. 7. (Voluminous document, containing chiefly 
correspondence, orders, etc., 1855-1860.) 

1860, Dec. 17. Deficiencies of Appropriation, etc. : Letter from the 
Secretary of the Interior, communicating estimates for deficiencies 
in the appropriation for the suppression of the slave trade, etc. 
House Excc^ Doc, 36 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 11. (Contains names 
of captured slavers.) 

1861, July 4. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Senate Exec Doc, 

37 Cong. I sess. No. i, pp. 92, 97. 

1861, Dec. 2. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Senate Exec. Doc, 
37 Cong. 2 sess. Vol. III. pt. i, No. i, pt. 3, pp. n, 21. 

1861, Dec. 18. In Relation to Captured Africans : Letter from the Sec- 
retary of the Interior ... as to contracts for returning and sub- 
sistence of captured Africans. House Exec. Doc, 37 Cong. 2 sess. 
I. No. 12. 

1852, April 1. Letter of the Secretary of the Interior ... in relation 
to the slave vessel the "Bark Augusta." Senate Exec. Doc, 37 
Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 40. 

1862, May 30. Letter of the Secretary of the Interior ... in relation 
to persons who have been arrested in the southern district of New 
York, from the ist day of May, 1852, to the ist day of May, 1862, 
charged with being engaged in the slave trade, etc. Setiate Exec. 
Doc, 37 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 53. 

1862, June 10, Message of the President . . . transmitting a copy of 
the treaty between the United States and her Britannic Majesty for 
the suppression of the African slave trade. Senate Exec. Doc, 
37 Cong. 2 sess. V. No. 57. (Also contains correspondence.) 



312 APPENDIX D. 

1862, Dec. 1. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec. Doc, 
37 Cong. 3 sess. III. No. i, pt. 3, p. 23. 

1863, Jan. 7. Liberated Africans : Letter from the Acting Secretary of 
the Interior . . . transmitting reports from Agent Seys in relation 
to care of Hberated Africans. House Exec. Doc, 37 Cong. 3 sess. 
V. No. 28. 

1864, July 2. Message of the President . . . communicating . . . in- 
formation in regard to the African slave trade. Senate Exec. 
Doc, 38 Cong. I sess. No. 56. 

1866-69. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. House Exec. Doc, 

39 Cong. 2 sess. IV. No. i, pt. 6, pp. 12, 18-9 ; 40 Cong. 2 sess. 

IV. No. I, p. II ; 40 Cong. 3 sess. IV. No. i, p. ix ; 41 Cong. 

2 sess. I. No. I, pp. 4, 5, 9, 10. 
1870, March 2. [Resolution on the slave-trade submitted to the Senate 

by Mr. Wilson], j^ Senate Misc. Doc, 41 Cong. 2 sess. No. 66. 

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

John Quincy Adams. Argument before the Supreme Court of the 
United States, in the case of the United States, Appellants, vs. Cinque, and 
Others, Africans, captured in the schooner Amistad, by Lieut. Gedney, 
delivered on the 24th of Feb. and ist of March, 1S41. With a Review 
of the case of the Antelope. New York, 1841. 

An African Merchant (anon.). A Treatise upon the Trade from Great- 
Britain to Africa ; Humbly recommended to the Attention of Government. 
London. 1772. 

The African Slave Trade : Its Nature, Consequences, and Extent. 
From the Leeds Mercury. [Birmingham, 183-.] 

The African Slave Trade : The Secret Purpose of the Insurgents to 
Revive it. No Treaty Stipulations against the Slave Trade to be entered 
into with the European Powers, etc. Philadelphia, 1863. 

George William Alexander. Letters on the Slave-Trade, Slavery, and 
Emancipation, etc. London, 1842. (Contains Bibliography.) 

American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society ; Reports. 

American Anti-Slavery Society. Memorial for the Abolition of Slavery 
and the Slave Trade. London, 1841. 

. Reports and Proceedings. 

American Colonization Society. Annual Reports, 18 18-1860. (Cf. 
above. United States Documents.) 

J. A. Andrew and A. G. Browne, proctors. Circuit Court of the United 



APPENDIX D. 313 

States, Massachusetts District, ss. In Admiralty. The United States, by 
Information, vs. the Schooner Wanderer and Cargo, G. Lamar, Claimant. 
Boston, i860. 

Edward Armstrong, editor. The Record of the Court at Upland, in 
Pennsylvania. 1676-16S1. Philadelphia, 1S60. (In Me7noiis of the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society, VII. 11.) 

Samuel Greene Arnold. History of the State of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations. 2 vols. New York, 1S59-60. (See Index to 
Vol. II., "Slave Trade.") 

Assiento, or. Contract for allowing to the Subjects of Great Britain the 
Liberty of Importing Negroes into the Spanish America. Sign'd by the 
Catholick King at Madrid, the Twenty sixth Day of March, 17 13. By 
Her Majesties special Command. London, 17 13. 

R. S. Baldwin. Argument before the Supreme Court of the United 
States, in the case of the United States, Appellants, vs. Cinque, and Others, 
Africans of the Amistad. New York, 1841. 

James Bandinel. Some Account of the Trade in Slaves from Africa as 
connected with Europe and America ; From the Introduction of the 
Trade into Modern Europe, down to the present Time ; especially with 
reference to the efforts made by the British Government for its extinction. 
London, 1842. 

Anthony Benezet. Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave 
Trade, 1442-1771. (In his Historical Account of Guinea, etc., Phila- 
delphia, 1 77 1.) 

. Notes on the Slave Trade, etc. [1780 V^. 

Thomas Hart Benton. Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 
1789 to 1S56. 16 vols. Washington, 1857-61. 

Edward Bettle. Notices of Negro Slavery, as connected with Pennsyl- 
vania. (Read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Aug. 7, 
1826. Printed in Afemoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
Vol. I. Philadelphia, 1S64 ) 

W. O. Blake. History of Slavery and the Slave Trade, Ancient and 
Modern. Columbus, 1859. 

Jeffrey R. Brackett. The Status of the Slave, 1 775-1 789. (Essay V. 
in Jameson's Essays in the Constitutional History of the United States, 
1775-89. Boston, 18S9.) 

Thomas Branagan. Serious Remonstrances, addressed to the Citizens 
of the Northern States and their Representatives, on the recent Revival 
of the Slave Trade in this Republic. Philadelphia, 1S05. 

British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Annual and Special Reports. 



314 APPENDIX D. 

. Proceedings of the general Anti-Slavery Convention, 

called by the committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 
and held in London, . . . June, 1840. London, 1841. 

[A British Merchant.] Tiie African Trade, the Great Pillar and 
Support of the British Plantation Trade in America : shewing, etc, 
London, 1 745. 

[British Parliament, House of Lords.] Report of the Lords of the 
Committee of the Council appointed for the Confederation of all IMatters 
relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations, etc. 2 vols. [London,] 1789. 

^Villiam Brodie. Modern Slavery and the Slave Trade : a Lecture, 
etc. London, 1S60. 

Thomas Fowell Buxton. The African Slave Trade and its Remedy. 
London, 1840. 

John Elliot Cairnes. The Slave Power: its Character, Career, and 
Probable Designs. London, 1862. 

Henry C. Carey. The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign : why it 
Exists and how it may be Extinguished. Philadelphia, 1853. 

[Lewis Cass]. An Examination of the Question, now in Discussion, 
. . . concerning the Right of Search. By an American. [Philadel- 
phia, 1842.] 

William Ellery Channing, The Duty of the Free States, or Remarks 
suggested by the case of the Creole. Boston, 1842. 

David Christy. Ethiopia, her Gloom and Glory, as illustrated in the 
History of the Slave Trade, etc. (1442-1857.) Cincinnati, 1857. 

Rufus W. Clark. The African Slave Trade. Boston, [i860.] 

Thomas Clarkson. An Essay on the Comparative Efficiency of Regu- 
lation or Abolition, as applied to the Slave Trade. Shewing that the 
latter only can remove the evils to be found in that commerce. Lon- 
don, 17S9. 

. An Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave Trade. 

In two parts. Second edition. London, 178S. 

. An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human 

Species, particularly the African. London and Dublin, 17S6. 

. The History of the Rise. Progress, and Accomplishment 

of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament. 
2 vols. Philadelphia, 1808. 

Michael W. Cluskey. The Political Text-Book, or Encyclopedia . . . 
for the Reference of Politicians and Statesmen. Fourteenth edition. 
Philadelphia, i860. 

T. R. R. Cobb. An Historical Sketch of Slavery, from the Earliest 
Periods. Philadelphia and Savannah. 1858. 



APPENDIX D. 315 

T. R. R. Cobb. Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in the United 
States of America. Vol. I. Philadelphia and Savannah, 185S. 

Company of Royal Adventurers. The Several Declarations of the 
Company of Royal Adventurers of England trading into Africa, inviting 
all His Majesties Native Subjects in general to Subscribe, and become 
Sharers in their Joynt-stock, etc. [London,] 1667. 

Confederate States of America. By Authority of Congress : The Stat- 
utes at Large of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States 
of America, from the Institution of the Government, Feb. 8, 1861, to its 
Termination, Feb. iS, 1862, Inclusive, etc. (Contains provisional and 
permanent constitutions.) Edited by James M. Matthews. Richmond, 
1864. 

Constitution of a Society for Abolishing the Slave-Trade. With Sev- 
eral Acts of the Legislatures of the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut 
and Rhode-Island, for that Purpose. Printed by John Carter. Provi- 
dence, 1789. 

Continental Congress. Journals and Secret Journals. 

Moncure D. Conway. Omitted Chapters of History disclosed in the 
Life and Papers of Edmund Randolph, etc. New York and London, 
1S88. 

Thomas Cooper. Letters on the Slave Trade. Manchester, Eng., 
17S7. 

Correspondence with British Ministers and Agents in Foreign Coun- 
tries, and with Foreign Ministers in England, relative to the Slave Trade, 
1859-60. London, i860. 

The Creole Case, and Mr. Webster's Despatch ; with the comments 
of the New York " American." New York, 1842. 

B. R. Curtis. Reports of Decisions in the Supreme Court of the 
United States. With Notes, and a Digest. Fifth edition. 22 vols. 
Boston, 1S70. 

James Dana. The African Slave Trade. A Discourse delivered . . . 
September, 9, 1790, before the Connecticut Society for the Promotion 
of Freedom. New Haven, 1791. 

Henry B. Dawson, editor. The Foederalist : A Collection of Essays, 
written in favor of the New Constitution, as agreed upon by the Fcederal 
Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. 
With an Historical Introduction and Notes. Vol.1. New York, 1S63. 

Paul Dean. A Discourse delivered before the African Society . . . 
in Boston, Mass., on the Abohtion of the Slave Trade . . . July 14, 1819. 
Boston, 18 1 9. 

Charles Deane. The Connection of Massachusetts with Slavery and 



3l6 APPENDIX D. 

the Slave-Trade, etc. Worcester, 1886. (Also in Proceedings of the 
American Antiquarian Society, October, 18S6.) 

Charles Deane. Letters and Documents relating to Slavery in Mass- 
achusetts. (In Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 5th 
Series, III. 373.) 

Debate on a Motion for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade, in the House 
of Commons, on Monday and Tuesday, April 18 and ig, 1791. Re- 
ported in detail. London, 1 791. 

J. D. B. De Bow. The Commercial Review of the South and West. 
(Also De Bow's Review of the Southern and Western States.) ■i)'^ vols. 
New Orleans, 1846-69. 

Franklin B. Dexter. Estimates of Population in the American Col- 
onies. Worcester, 1887. 

Captain Richard Drake. Revelations of a Slave Smuggler : being the 
Autobiography of Capt. Richard Drake, an African Trader for fifty years 
— from 1807 to 1857, etc. New York, [i860.] 

Daniel Drayton. Personal Memoir, etc. Including a Narrative of 
the Voyage and Capture of the Schooner Pearl. Published by the 
American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Boston and New York, 

1855- 

John Drayton. Memoirs of the American Revolution. 2 vols. 
Charleston, 1821. 

Paul Dudley. An Essay on the Merchandize of Slaves and Souls of 
Men. Boston, 1731. 

Edward E. Dunbar. The Mexican Papers, containing the History of 
the Rise and Decline of Commercial Slavery in America, with reference 
to the Future of Mexico. First Series, No. 5. New York, 1S61. 

Jonathan Edwards. The Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave Trade, 
and of the Slavery of the Africans, etc. [New Haven,] 1791. 

Jonathan Elliot. The Debates ... on the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution, etc. 4 vols. Washington, 1S27-30. 

Emerson Etheridge. Speech ... on the Revival of the African Slave 
Trade, etc. Washington, 1857. 

Alexander Falconbridge. An Account of the Slave Trade on the 
Coast of Africa. London, 1788. 

Andrew H. Foote. Africa and the American Flag. New York, 1854. 

. The African Squadron : Ashburton Treaty : Consular 

Sea Letters. Philadelphia, 1855. 

Peter Force. American Archives, etc. In Six Series. Prepared and 
Published under Authority of an act of Congress. Fourth and Fifth 
Series. 9 vols. Washington, 1837-53. 



APPENDIX D. 317 

Paul Leicester Ford. The Association of the First Congress. (In 
Political Science Quarterly, VI. 613.) 

. Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, 

published during its Discussion by the People, i7S7'-S. (With Bibli- 
ography, etc.) Brooklyn, 18SS. 

William Chauncey Fowler. Local Law in Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut, Historically considered ; and The Historical Status of the 
Negro, in Connecticut, etc. Albany, 1872, and New Haven, 1875. 

[Benjamin Franklin.] An Essay on the African Slave Trade. Phila- 
delphia, 1790. 

[Friends.] Address to the Citizens of the United States of America 
on the subject of Slavery, eic. (At New York Yearly Meeting.) New 
York, 1837. 

• An Appeal on the Iniquity of Slavery and the Slave 

Trade. (At London Yearly Meeting.) London and Cincinnati, 1844. 

• The Appeal of the Religious Society of Friends in Penn- 
sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, etc., [Yearly Meeting] to their Fellow- 
Citizens of the United States on behalf of the Coloured Races. Phila- 
delphia, 1S58. 

. A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the 

Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the 
Slave Trade. 1 671-17 87. (At Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia.) Phila- 
delphia, 1843. 

'—• The Case of our Fellow-Creatures, the Oppressed Afri- 
cans, respectfully recommended to the Serious Consideration of the 
Legislature of Great-Britain, by the People called Quakers. (At London 
Meeting.) London, 1783 and 1784. (This volume contains many 
tracts on the African slave-trade, especially in the West Indies ; also 
descriptions of trade, proposed legislation, etc.) 

• An Exposition of the African Slave Trade, from the year 

1840, to 1850, inclusive. Prepared from official documents. Philadel- 
phia, 1857. 

• Extracts and Observations on the Foreign Slave Trade. 

Philadelphia, 1839. 

• Facts and Observations relative to the Participation of 

American Citizens in the African Slave Trade. Philadelphia, 1841. 

• Faits relatifs a la Traite des Noirs, et Details sur Sierra 

Leone ; par la Socie'tt^ des Ames. Paris, 1824. 

• Germantown Friends' Protest against Slavery, 16S8. Fac- 
simile Copy. Philadelphia, 18S0. 



3l8 APPENDIX D. 

[Friends.] Observations on the Inslaving, importing and purchasing 
of Negroes ; with some Advice thereon, extracted from the Epistle of 
the Yearly- Meeting of the People called Quakers, held at London in the 
Year 1748. Second edition. Germantown, 1760. 

. Proceedings in relation to the Presentation of the Address 

of the [Great Britain and Ireland] Yearly Meeting on the Slave-Trade 
and Slavery, to Sovereigns and those in Authority in the nations of 
Europe, and in other parts of the world, where the Christian religion is 
professed. Cincinnati, 1855. 

. Slavery and the Domestic Slave Trade in the United 

States. By the committee appointed by the late Yearly Meeting of 
Friends held in Philadelphia, in 1S39. Philadelphia, 184 1. 

. A View of the Present State of the African Slave Trade. 

Philadelphia, 1824. 

Carl Gareis. Das heutige Volkerrecht und der Menschenhandel. 
Eine volkerrechtliche Abhandlung, zugleich Ausgabe des deutschen 
Texles der Vertriige von 20. Dezember 1841 und 29. Marz 1879. 
Berlin, 1079. 

. Der Sklavenhandel, das Volkerrecht, und das deutsche 

Recht. (In Deutsche Zeit- und Streit-Fragen, No. 13.) Berlin, 1885. 

Age'nor Etienne de Gasparin. Esclavage et Traite. Paris, 1S3S. 

Joshua R. Giddings. Speech ... on his motion to reconsider the 
vote taken upon the final passage of the '' Bill for the relief of the owners 
of slaves lost from on Board the Comet and Encomium." [Washington, 

1843-] 

Benjamin Godwin. The Substance of a Course of Lectures on 
British Colonial Slavery, delivered at Bradford, York, and Scarborough. 
London, 1830. 

. Lectures on Slavery. From the London edition, with 

additions. Edited by W. S. Andrews. Boston, 1836. 

William Goodell. The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice : 
its Distinctive Features shown by its Statutes, Judicial Decisions, and 
Illustrative Facts. New York, 1853. 

. Slavery and Anti-Slavery; A History of the great Strug- 
gle in both Hemispheres ; with a view of the Slavery Question in the 
United States. New York, 1852. 

Daniel R. Goodloe. The Birth of the Republic. Chicago, [1889.] 

[Great Britain.] British and Foreign State Papers. 

■ . Sessional Papers. (For notices of slave-trade in British 

Sessional Papers, see Bates Hall Catalogue, Boston Public Library, 
pp. 347 et seq.) 



APP RADIX D. 319 

[Great Britain : Parliament.] Chronological Table and Index of the 
Statutes, Eleventh Edition, to the end of the Session 52 and 53 Victoria, 
(18S9.) By Authority. London, 1S90. 

[Great Britain : Record Commission.] The Statutes of the Realm. 
Printed by command of His Majesty King George the Third . . . 
From Original Records and Authentic Manuscripts. 9 vols. London, 
iSio-22. 

George Gregory. Essays, Historical and Moral. Second edition. 
London, 17SS. (Essays 7 and 8: Of Slavery and the Slave Trade; A 
Short Review, etc.) 

Pope Gregory XVL To Catholic Citizens ! The Pope's Bull [for the 
Abolition of the Slave Trade], and the words of Daniel O'Connell [on 
American Slavery.] New York, [1856.] 

H. Hall. Slavery in New Hampshire. (In New England Register, 
XXIX. 247.) 

Isaac W. Hammond. Slavery in New Hampshire in the Olden Time. 
(In GraJiite Monthly, IV. 108.) 

James H. Hammond. Letters on Southern Slavery : addressed to 
Thomas Clarkson. [Charleston, (.')]. 

Robert G. Harper. Argument against the Policy of Re-opening the 
African Slave Trade. Atlanta, Ga., 185S. 

Samuel Hazard, editor. The Register of Pennsylvania. 16 vols. 
Philadelphia, 1828-36. 

Hinton R. Helper. The Impending Crisis of the South : How to 
Meet it. Enlarged edition. New York, i860. 

Lewis and Sir Edward Hertslet, compilers. A Complete Collection 
of the Treaties and Conventions, and Reciprocal Regulations, at present 
subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers, and of the Laws, 
Decrees, and Orders in Council, concerning the same ; so far as they 
relate to Commerce and Navigation, . . . the Slave Trade, etc. 17 vols., 
(Vol. XVL, Index.) London, 1840-90. 

William B. Hodgson. The Foulahs of Central Africa, and the African 
Slave Trade. [New York, ( ? )] 1S43. 

John Codman Hurd. The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the 
United States. 2 vols. Boston and New York, 1858, 1862. 

• The International Law of the Slave Trade, and the 

Maritime Right of Search. (In the American Jurist, XXVI. 330.) 

• The Jamaica Movement, for promoting the Enforcement 

of the Slave-Trade Treaties, and the Suppression of the Slave-Trade ; with 
statements of Fact, Convention, and Law : prepared at the request of 
the Kingston Committee. London, 1S50. 



320 APPENDIX D. 

William Jay. Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery. Boston, 1S53. 

. A View of the Action of the Federal Government, in 

Behalf of Slavery. New York, 1839. 

T. and J. W. Johnson. Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in the 
United States. 

Alexandre Moreau de Jonnes. Recherches Statistiques sur I'Esclavage 
Colonial et sur les Moyens de le supprimer. Paris, 1842. 

M. A. Juge. The American Planter : or The Bound Labor Interest in 
the United States. New York, 1854. 

Friedrich Kapp. Die Sklavenfrage in den Vereinigten Staaten. Got- 
tingen and New York, 1854. 

. Geschichte der Sklaverei in den Vereinigten Staaten 

von Amerika. Hamburg, 1S61. 

Frederic Kidder. The Slave Trade in Massachusetts. (In New- 
Engla7id Historical and Genealogical Register^ XXXI. 75.) 

George Lawrence. An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade 
. . . Jan. I, 1S13. New York, 1813. 

William B. Lawrence. Visitation and Search ; or, An Historical Sketch 
of the British Claim to exercise a Maritime Police over the Vessels of all 
Nations, in Peace as well as in War. Boston, 1858. 

Letter from ... in London, to his Friend in America, on the . . . 
Slave Trade, etc. New York, 1784. 

Thomas Lloyd. Debates of the Convention of the State of Penn- 
sylvania on the Constitution, proposed for the Government of the United 
States. In two volumes. Vol. I. Philadelphia, 1788. 

London Anti-Slavery Society. The Foreign Slave Trade, A Brief 
Account of its State, of the Treaties which have been entered into, and 
of the Laws enacted for its Suppression, from the date of the English 
Abolition Act to the present time. London, 1837. 

. The Foreign Slave Trade, etc., No. 2. London, 1838. 

London Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade, and for the 
Civilization of Africa. Proceedings at the first Public Meeting, held at 
Exeter Hall, on Monday, ist June, 1840. London, 1840. 

Theodore Lyman, Jr. The Diplomacy of the United States, etc. 
Second edition. 2 vols. Boston, 1828. 

Hugh M'Call. The History of Georgia, containing Brief Sketches of 
the most Remarkable Events, up to the Present Day. 2 vols. Savan- 
nah, 1811-16. 

Marion J. McDougall. Fugitive Slaves. Boston, 189 1. 

John Eraser Macqueen. Chief Points in the Laws of War and Neu- 
trality, Search and Blockade, etc. London and Edinburgh, 1862. 



APPENDIX D. 321 

R. R. jNIadden. A Letter to W. E. Channing, D. D., on the subject 
of the Abuse of the Flag of the United States in the Island of Cuba, and 
the Advantage taken of its Protection in promoting the Slave Trade. 
Boston, 1839. 

James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, 
Fourth President of the United States. In four volumes. Published by 
order of Congress. Philadelphia, 1S65. 

. The Papers of James Madison, purchased by order of 

Congress ; being his Correspondence and Reports of Debates during the 
Congress of the Confederation and his Reports of Debates in the Federal 
Convention. 3 vols. Washington, 1840. 

Marana (pseudonym). The Future of America. Considered . . . 
in View of . . . Re-opening the Slave Trade. Boston, 1858. 

E. Manning. Six Months on a Slaver. New York, 1879. 

George C. Mason. The African Slave Trade in Colonial Times. (In 
American Historical Record, I. 311, ^tZ"^-) 

Frederic G. Mather. Slavery in the Colony and State of New York. 
(In Magazine of American History^ XL 408.) 

Samuel May, Jr. Catalogue of Anti-Slavery Publications in America, 
1750-1S63. (Contains bibliography of periodical literature.) 

Memorials presented to the Congress of the United States of America, 
by the Different Societies instituted for promoting the Abolition of 
Slavery, etc., etc., in the States of Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New- 
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Philadelphia, 1792. 

Charles F. Mercer. Me'moires relatifs a I'Abolition de la Traite 
Africaine, etc. Paris, 1855. 

C. W. Miller. Address on Re-opening the Slave Trade . . . August 
29, 1S57. Columbia, S. C, 1857. 

George H. Moore. Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts. 
New York, 1866. 

. Slavery in Massachusetts. (In Historical Magazine, XV. 

329-) 

Jedidiah Morse. A Discourse . . . July 14, 180S, in Grateful Celebra- 
tion of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the Governments of 
the United States, Great Britain and Denmark. Boston, 1808. 

John Pennington, Lord Muncaster. Historical Sketches of the Slave 
Trade and its effect on Africa, addressed to the People of Great Britain. 
London, 1792. 

Edward Needles. An Historical Memoir of the Pennsylvania Society, 
for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Philadelphia, 1S48. 

21 



322 ' APPENDIX D. 

New England Anti-Slavery Convention. Proceedings at Boston, May 
27, 1834. Boston, 1834. 

Hezekiah Niles {et al.), editors. The Weekly Register, etc. 71 vols. 
Baltimore, 1811-1847. (For Slave-Trade, seel. 224; III. 189; V. 30, 
46 ; VI. 152 ; VII. 54, 96, 2S6, 350 ; VIII. 136, 190, 262, 302, Supple- 
ment, p. 155 ; IX. 60, 78, 133, 172, 335 ; X. 296, 400, 412, 427 ; XI. 
15, 108, 156, 222, 336, 399 ; XII. 58, 60, 103, 122, 159, 219, 237, 299, 

347^397, 41 1-) 

Robert Norris. A Short Account of the African Slave-Trade. A new 
edition corrected. London, 17S9. 

E. B. O'Callaghan, translator. Voyages of the Slavers St. John and 
Arms of Amsterdam, 1659, 1663 ; with additional papers illustrative of 
the Slave Trade under the Dutch. Albany, 1867. (New York Colo- 
nial Tracts, No. 3.) 

Frederick Law Olmsted. A Journey in the Back Country. New 
York, i860. 

, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, etc. New York, 

1856. 

. A Journey through Texas, etc. New York, 1857. 

. The Cotton Kingdom, etc. 2 vols. New York, 1861. 

Sir W. G. Ouseley. Notes on the Slave Trade ; with Remarks on the 
Measures adopted for its Suppression. London, 1850. 

Pennsylvania Historical Society. The Charlemagne Tower Collection 
of American Colonial Laws. (Bibliography.) Philadelphia, 1890. 

Edward A. Pollard. Black Diamonds gathered in the Darkey Homes 
of the South. New York, 1859. 

William F. Poole. Anti-Slavery Opinions before the Year 1800. To 
which is appended a fac-simile reprint of Dr. George Buchanan's Oration 
on the Moral and Political Evil of Slavery, etc. Cincinnati, 1873. 

Robert Proud. History of Pennsylvania. 2 vols. Philadelphia. 
1797-8. 

[James Ramsay.] An Inquiry into the Effects of putting a Stop to 
the African Slave Trade, and of granting Liberty to the Slaves in the 
British Sugar Colonies. London, 1784. 

. Objections to the Abolition of the Slave Trade, with 

Answers, etc. Second edition. London, 1788 

[John Ranby.] Observations on the Evidence given before the Com- 
mittees of the Privy Council and House of Commons in Support of the 
Bill for Abolishing the Slave Trade. London, 1791. 

Remarks on the Colonization of the Western Coast of Africa, by 
the Free Negroes of the United States, etc. New York, 1850. 



APPENDIX D. 323 

Right of Search. Reply to an " American's Examination " of the 
"Right of Search, etc." By an EngHshman. London, 1S42. 

Wilh'am Noel Sainsbury, editor. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial 
Series, America and the West Indies, 1574-1676. 4 vols. London, 
1860-93. 

George Sauer. La Traite et I'Esclavage des Noirs. London, 1S63. 

George S. Sawyer. Southern Institutes ; or, An Inquiry into the Origin 
and Early Prevalence of Slavery and the Slave-Trade. Philadelphia, 
185S. 

Selections from the Revised Statutes : Containing all the Laws relating 
to Slaves, etc. New York. 1S30. 

Johann J. Sell. Versuch einer Geschichte des Negersclavenhandels. 
Halle, 1 79 1. 

[Granville Sharp.] Extract of a Letter to a Gentleman in Maryland ; 
Wherein is demonstrated the extreme wickedness of tolerating the 
Slave Trade. Fourth edition. London, 1806. 

A Short Account of that part of Africa Inhabited by the Negroes, . . . 
and the Manner by which the Slave Trade is carried on. Third edition. 
London, 176S. 

A Short Sketch of the Evidence for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade. 
Philadelphia, i 792. 

Joseph Sidney. An Oration commemorative of the Abolition of the 
Slave Trade in the United States. . . . Jan, 2. 1809. New York, 1809. 

[A Slave Holder.] Remarks upon Slavery and the Slave-Trade, 
addressed to the Hon. Henry Clay. 1839. 

The Slave Trade in New York. (In the Continental Monthly, Jan- 
uary, 1862, p. 86.) 

Joseph Smith. A Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books. (Bibli- 
ography.) 2 vols. London, 1867. 

Capt. William Snelgrave. A New Account of some Parts of Guinea, 
and the Slave-Trade. London, 1734. 

South Carolina. General Assembly (House), 1857. Report of the 
Special Committee of the House of Representatives ... on so much 
of the Message of His Excellency Gov. Jas. H. Adams, as relates to 
Slavery and the Slave Trade. Columbia, S. C, 1857. 

L. W. Spratt. A Protest from South Carolina against a Decision of the 
Southern Congress : Slave Trade in the Southern Congress. (In Littell's 
Living Age, Third Series, LXVIII. 801.) 

. Speech upon the Foreign Slave Trade, before the Legis- 
lature of South Carolina. Columbia, S. C, 1858. 



324 APPENDIX D. 

L. W. Spratt. The Foreign Slave Trade the Source of Political 
Power, etc. Charleston, 1858. 

William Stith. The History of the First Discovery and Settlement of 
Virginia. Virginia and London, 1753, 

George M. Stroud. A Sketch of the Laws relating to Slavery in the 
Several States of the United States of America. Philadelphia. 1S27. 

James Swan. A Dissuasion to Great-Britain and the Colonies : from 
the Slave-Trade to Africa. Shewing the Injustice thereof, etc. Revised 
and Abridged. Boston, 1 773. 

F. T. Texugo. A Letter on the Slave Trade still carried on along the 
Eastern Coast of Africa, etc. London, 1839. 

R. Thorpe. A View of the Present Increase of the Slave Trade, the 
Cause of tliat Increase, and a mode for effecting its total Annihilation. 
London, 1S18. 

Jesse Torrey. A Portraiture of Domestic Slaverv ... and a Pro- 
ject of Colonial Asylum for Free Persons of Colour. Philadebhia 
1817. ^ ' 

Drs. Tucker and Belknap. Queries respecting the Slavery and 
Emancipation of Negroes in Massachusetts, proposed by the Hon. 
Judge Tucker of Virginia, and answered by the* Rev. Dr. Belknap. 
(In Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, First Series 
IV. 191.) 

David Turnbull. Travels in the West. Cuba ; with Notices of Porto 
Rico, and the Slave Trade. London, 1840. 

United States Congress. Annals of Congress, 1789-1824; Congres- 
sional Debates, 1824-37; Congressional Globe, 1833-73; Conces- 
sional Record, 1873- ; Documents (House and Senate); Executive 
Documents (House and Senate) ; Journals (House and Senate) ; I\Iis- 
cellaneous Documents (House and Senate) ; Reports (House and 
Senate); Statutes at Large. 

United States Supreme Court. Reports of Decisions. 

Charles W. Upham. Speech in the House of Representatives, Mass- 
achusetts, on the Compromises of the Constitution, with an Appendix 
containing the Ordinance of 1787. Salem, 1849. 

Virginia State Convention. Proceedings and Debates, 1829-30. 
Richmond, 1830. 

G. Wadleigh. Slavery in New Hampshire. (In Granite AfofiMy, 
VI. 37 7-) 

Emory Washburn. Extinction of Slavery in Massachusetts. (In Pro- 
ceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, May, 1857. Boston 
1859-) 



APPENDIX D. 325 

William B. Weeden. Economic and Social History of New England, 
1 62 0-1789. 2 vols. Boston, 1890. 

Henry Wheaton. Enquiry into the Validity of the British Claim to a 
Rif^ht of Visitation and Search of American Vessels suspected to be 
engaged in the African Slave-Trade. Philadelphia, 1842. 

William H. Whitmore. The Colonial Laws of Massachusetts. Re- 
printed from the Edition of 1660, with the Supplements to 1772. Con- 
taining also the Body of Liberties of 1641. Boston, 1889. 

George W. Williams. History of the Negro Race in America from 
16 19 to 18S0. 2 vols. New York, 1883. 

Henry Wilson. History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty- 
seventh and Thirty-eighth United-States Congresses, 1861-64. Boston, 
1864. 

. History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in 

America. 3 vols. Boston, 1872-7. 



INDEX. 



Abolition of slave-trade by Europe, 

144 n- 
Abolition Societies, organization of, 35, 

70; petitions of, 75, 76-So. 
Adams, C. F., 150. 
Adams, J. Q., on Right of Search, 137; 

proposes Treaty of 1S24, 139 ; message, 

261. 
Adams, Governor of S. C, message on 

slave-trade, 169, 170, 275, 276. 
Advertisements for smuggled slaves, 

182 n. 
'■-X Africa, English trade to, 2, 5; Dutch 
--"^ trade to, 17 ; Colonial trade to, 18, 

28, 29, 36, 41, 71, 72; "Association" 

and trade to, 41, 46; American trade 

to, 85, no, III, 113, 147, 179, 180, 1S1-3, 

185-7 ; reopening of trade to, 168-93. 
African Agency, establishment, 121, 123; 

attempts to abolish, 155 ; history, 157. 
" African Labor Supply Association," 176. 
African Society of London, no. 
African squadron, establishment of, 120, 

12: ; activity of, 125, 126, 144, 147, 156, 

159, 185, 186, 187, 192. 
Aix-la-Chapelle, Peace, 3 ; Congress, 

136 n. 
Alabama, in Commercial Convention, 

171 ; State statutes, 109, 247^ 254, 274. 
Alston, speeches on Act of 1807, 96 n., 

99 n., icon. 
Amelia Island, illicit traffic at, 113, 114, 

119, 246; capture of, 116, 249. 
Amendments to slave-trade clause in Con- 
stitution proposed, 68, 91, 108 n., 184, 

241-4, 246, 250, 256, 282, 283. 
American Missionary Society, petition, 

183. 
" L'Amistad," case of, 142, 293. 
Anderson, minister to Colombia, 140 n. 



" Antelope " (" Ramirez "), case of, I26n., 
129, 271. 

" Apprentices," African, importation of, 
172, 177 ; Louisiana bill on, 177 ; Con- 
gressional bill on, 184. 

Appropriations to suppress the slave- 
trade, chronological list of, 122 n. ; from 
1820 to 1S50, 156, 157; from 1850 to 
i860, 183, 1S4 ; from i860 to 1S70, 191 ; 
statutes, 251, 255, 262-4, 266, 272, 273-5, 
277, 279, 282, 2S4, 285, 287, 2SS. 

Argentine Confederation, 142 n. 

Arkansas, 171. 

Arkwright, Richard, 151. 

Ashmun, Jehudi, 157. 

Assiento treaty, 3, 207, 20S ; influence of, 
10, 14, 39. 

"Association," the, reasons leading to, 
41,42; establishment of, 44, 45; results 
of, 46-8. 

Atherton, J., speech of, 67. 

" Augusta," case of the slaver, 298. 

Aury, Capt., buccaneer, 113. 

Austria, at Congress of Vienna, 134; at 
Congress of Verona, 138; signs Quin- 
tuple Treaty, 146, 269. 

Ayres, Eli, U. S. African agent, 157; 
report of, 125, 126. 

Babbit, William, slave-trader, i2Sn. 
Bacon, Samuel, African agent, 123, 157. 
Badger, Joseph, slave-trader, 129 n. 
Baldwin, Abraham, in Federal Conven- 
tion, 54, 55, 58, 60 ; in Congress, 77, 105. 
Baltimore, slave-trade at, 129, 164, 166. 
Banks, N. P., 193, 288. 
Barancas, Fort, 117. 
Barbadoes, 4. 

Bard (of Pa.), Congressman, 86. 
Barksdale, Wm. (of Miss.), 175. 



328 



INDEX. 



Barnwell, Robert (of S. C), 66. 

Barry, Robert, slave-trader, 164. 

Bay Island slave-depot, 166. 

Bayard, J. A. (of Del.), Congressman. 

Bedinger, G. M. (of Ky.), 85 n. 

Belgium, 148. 

Belknap, J. (of Mass.), •]■},. 

Benezet, Anthony, 21. 

Benton, Thomas H., 147, 156, 272. 

Betton (of N. H.), Congressman, 106 n. 

Biblical Codes of Law, 18, 30, 37 n. 

Bidwell (of Mass.), Congressman, 96 n., 
97 n., icon., loi n., 105-7, loS, 245. 

Blanco and Caballo, slave-traders, 164. 

Bland, T. (of Va.), Congressman, 78. 

Bolivia, 142 n. 

Border States, interstate slave-trade from, 
154; legislation of, 72;, see also under 
individual States. 

Boston, slave- trade at, 31, 82, 166, 185. 

Bozal Negroes, 166. 

Braddock's Expedition, 13. 

Bradley, S. R , Senator, 95, 105, 107. 

Brazil , slave-trade to, 17 112, 143, 162^, 
163, 171, iSo, 263; slaves in, 131 ; pro- 
posed conference with, 149 ; squadron 
on coasts of, 159. 

Brazos Santiago, 180. 

Brown (of Miss.), Congressman, 175. 

Brown, John (of Va.), slave-trader, 47. 

Brown, John (of R. I.), 82-4. 

Buchanan, James A., refuses toco-operate 
with England, 150; issues " Ostend 
Manifesto," 178 ; as president, enforces 
slave-trade laws, 187; messages, 277, 
279, 282. 

Buchanan, Governor of Sierra Leone, 163. 

Bullock, Collector of Revenue, 113. 

Burgesses, Virginia House of, petitions 
vs. slave-trade, 13; declares vs. slave- 
trade, 14; in "Association," 42. 

Burke, Aedanus (of S. C), 75-7. 

Butler, Pierce (of S. C), Senator, 61. 

Calhoun, J. C, 155 n. 
California, vessels bound to, 161. 
Campbell, John, Congressman, 105. 
Campbell, Commander, U. S. N., 115 n. 
\Canning, Stratford, British Minister, 137, 

Canot, Capt., slave-trader, 185. 
Cape de Verde Islands, 186. 



Cartvvright, Edmund, 154. 

Cass, Lewis, 146-9, 269. 

Castlereagh, British Cabinet Minister, 
i34,_ 136. 

Cato, insurrection of the slave, 10. 

"Centinel," newspaper correspondent, 63. 

Central America, 17S. 

Chandalier Islands, 116. 

Chandler, John (of N. H.), 102 n. 

Charles II., of England, 2. 

Charleston, S. C, attitude toward " Asso- 
ciation," 43, 44 ; slave-trade at, 86, Z'ii, 
90, 93, III, 164. 

Chew, Beverly, Collector of Revenue, 

"3. "5- 

Chili, 148. 

Chittenden, Martin (of Vt.), 106 n. 

Claiborne, \Vm., Governor of La., 89. 

Clarkson, William, 48, 132. 

Clay, J. B. (of Ky.), Congressman, 175. 

Clay, Congressman, 100 n. 

Clearance of slavers, 156, 161, 164, 184, 
268, 273, 274. 

Clymer, George (of Pa.), 58, 74. 

Coastwise slave-trade, 95, 96, 104-6, 156, 
161, 184, 192, 286. 

Cobb, Howell, Sec. of the Treasury, 177. 

Coles (of Va ), Congressman, 78. 

Colombia, U. S. of, 140, 260. 

Colonies, legislation of, see under indi- 
vidual Colonies, and Appendix A ; 
slave-trade in, 3, 5, 15, 17, 27-9,40-1, 
48-50; status of slavery in, 5-7, 15, 16, 
25-7, 37, 201, 202. 

Colonization Society, 123, 155 n., 157, 
197. 

" Comet," case of the slaver, 141, 292. 

Commercial conventions, Southern, 169- 

73- 

Company of Merchants Trading to Af- 
rica, 4. 

Compromises in Constitution, 57-62, 
197-9. 

Compton, Samuel, 151. 

Confederate States of America, 188-91, 
283, 284. 

Confederation, the, 50-2, 226. 

Congress of the United States, 74-108, 
no, 11S-123, 125, 129, 155-7, 175, 191-3, 
234, 241-56, 25S, 260-4, 266-8, 271-8, 
282, 283, 285-8. 

Congress of Verona, 138. 

Congress of Vienna, 134, 135. 



BA RN WELL—FRA NCE. 



329 



Connecticut, restrictions in, 37, 51 ; elec- 
tions in, 179; Colonial and State legisla- 
tion, 201, 202, 221, 223, 232, 235. 

" Constitution," slaver, 117, 118, 290. 

Constitution of the United States, 53-69, 
75, 76-So, 91, 100, 104, loS n., 137, 
1S4, 19S, 241-4, 246, 250, 256, 2S2, 283. 
See also Amendments and Compro- 
mises. 

Continental Congress, 44-7. 

Cook, Congressman, 97 n., loi n., 105. 

Cosby, Governor of N. Y., 19. 

Cotton, manufacture of, 151, 152 ; price of, 
153; crop of, 153. 

Cotton-gin, 152. 

Cox, Tench, 64. 

Cranston, Governor of R. I., 34. 

Crawford, W. H., Secretary, 116, 175. 

" Creole," case of the slaver, 141, 270, 295. 

Crimean war, 153. 

Cruising Conventions, 137, 13S, 144, 147, 
272, 275, 278, 2S2. 

Cuba, cruising off, 149, 2S2 ; movement to 
acquire, 155, 178, 187; illicit traffic to 
and from, 161, 162, 164, 166, 171. 

Cumberland, Lieut., R. N., 147. 

" Cyane," U. S. S., 127. 

Dana (of Conn.), Congressman, 82. 

Danish slave-trade, 41. 

Darien, Ga., 46, 114. 

Davis, Jefferson, 176. 

De Bow, J. D. B., 173, 176. 

Declaration of Independence, 48. 

Delaware, restrictions in, 24, 51, 72; atti- 
tude toward slave-trade, 60, 68 n., 70 ; 
Colonial and State statutes, 223, 224, 
--9, 233. 23S. 

Denmark, abolition of slave-trade, 131, 
241. 

Dent (of Md.), Congressman, 84. 

Dickinson, John, in the Federal Conven- 
tion, 54, 55, 58. 

Dickson (of N. C), Congressman, 84. 

Disallowance of Colonial acts, 4,5, 11, 13, 
19, 22, 25, 35. 

Dobbs, Governor of N. C, 4. 

Dolben, Sir William, M. P., 132. 

Douglas, Stephen A., iSi. 

Dowdell (of Ala.), Congressman, 175. 

Drake, Capt., slave-smuggler, iii, 165. 

Driscol, Capt., slave-trader, 185. 

Duke of York's Laws, 18, 202. 



Dunmore, Lord, 223. 

Dutch. See Holland. 

Dutch West India Company, 17. 

Duty, on African goods, 2 ; on slaves im- 
ported, 3, 4, 5, 8-15, 18-25, 31, 34-6, 
54, 58-61, 63, 65, 74-So, 86, 87, 91, 92, 
197, 201-6, 209-24, 226, 229, 234, 241, 

243- 
Dwight, Theodore, of Conn., 103 n. 

Early, Peter (of Ga.), 96 n., 98,99, 101-5, 
108. 

East Indies, 44. 

Economic revolution, 151-4. 

Edwards (of N. C), Congressman, 11911. 

Ellsworth, Oliver (of Conn.), in Federal 
Convention, 53, 54, 56. 

Elmer, Congressman, 103 n. 

Ely, Congressman, 100 n., 102 n. 

Emancipation of slaves, 23, 32, 36, t^"], 64, 
66, 72, 76-So, 193, 197, 224-6. 

" Encomium," case of, 141, 292. 

England, slave-trade policy, 1-5, 17, 22, 
35, 40-4, 47, 48, 95, 132-50, 152, 192, 
207, 208, 245, 247, 249, 251, 256-9, 263, 
264, 269, 272, 2S2, 285, 286, 288. See 
Disallowance. 

English Colonies. See Colonies. 

" Enterprise," case of, 141, 292. 

Escambia River, iii. 

Fairfax County, Virginia, 43. 

Faneuil Hall, meeting in, 42. 

Federalist, the, on slave-trade, 65. 

Fernandina, port of, 113. 

Filibustering expeditions, 178. 

Findley, Congressman, 100 n. 

Fisk, Congressman, 97 n. 

Florida, 46, 99, III. 113, 118, 166,171,180, 
iSi. See St. Mary's River and Amelia 
Island. 

Foote, H. S. (of Miss.), 172. 

Forsyth, John, Secretary of State, 142, 
145, 155 n-. 176. 

Foster (of N. H.), Congressman, 78. 

Fowler, W. C, no. 

Fox, C. J., English Cabinet Minister, 
133 n- 

France, Revolution in, 131 ; Colonial 
slave-trade of, 41, 89, 131, 247; Con- 
vention of, 82, 131 ; at Congress of 
Vienna, 134; at Congress of Verona, 
138; treaties with England, 142, 14S, 



330 



INDEX. 



263, 264; flag of, in slave-trade, 143; 
refuses to sign Quintuple Treaty, 146; 
invited to conference, 149. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 76. 

Friends, protest of, vs. slave-trade, 21 ; 
attitude towards slave-trade, 23, 26, 35, 
63, 73, 205; petitions of, vs. slave-trade, 
50, 51, 75, 80, Si ; reports of, on slave- 
trade, 166. 



Gaillard, Congressman, 105. 

Gallatin, Albert, 88. 

Gallinas, port of, Africa, 125. 

Galveston, Tex., 113. 

Garnett (of Va.), Congressman, 106 n. 

" General Ramirez." See " Antelope." 

Georgia, slavery m, 5,6; restrictions in, 
7,8, 71, 177; opposition to "Associa- 
tion," 45, 46; demands slave-trade, 8, 
50, 55-62 ; attitude toward restrictions, 
77, 78, 80, 129; smuggling to, 85, 86, 
92, 99, III, 113, 114, 180, iSi ; Colonial 
and State statutes, 109, 214, 236, 238, 
239, 249, 251,265. 

Germanic Federation, 148. 

Gerry, Elbridge, in the Federal Conven- 
tion, 54, 55 ; in Congress, 76, 78. 

Ghent, Treaty of, 135, 247. 

Giddings, J. R., 184 n., 271, 274. 

Giles, W. B. (of Va.), Congressman, 105. 

Godon, Capt., slave-trader, 191 n. 

Good Hope, Cape of, 150, 159, 192. 

Gorham, N. (of Mass.), in Federal Con- 
vention, 53, 60. 

Gouiden, W. B., 170. 

Graham, Secretary of the Navy, 186. 

Great Britain. See England. 

Gregory XVI., Pope, 143. 

Grenville-Fox ministry, 132. 

Guadaloupe, 84. 

Guinea. See Africa. 

Guizot, F., French Foreign Minister, 146. 

Habersham, R. W., 127 n. 
Hamilton, Alexander, 53. 
Hanse Towns, 141. 
Harmony and Co., slave-traders, 164. 
Harper (of S. C), Congressman, 88. 
Hartley, David, 76,78. 
Hastings, Congressman, 102 n. 
Havana, Cuba, 112, 117, 143, 161, 165. 
Hawkins, Sir John, 2. 



Hayti, 142 n. ; influence of the revolution, 
70-4, 80-5, 92-4. See San Domingo. 

Heath, General, of Mass., 66. 

Henderick, Garrett, 21. 

Hill (of N. C), Congressman, 82. 

Holland, participation of, in slave-trade, 
17, iS, 41 ; slaves in Colonies, 131 ; 
abolishes slave-trade, 134; treaty with 
England, 135, 251 ; West India Com- 
pany, 17. 

Holland, Congressman, 96 n., loi, 103 n. 

Hopkins, John, slave-trader, i2Sn. 

Hopkins, .Samuel, 34. 

Horn, Cape, 159, 161. 

Huger (of S. C), Congressman, 84, 87 n. 

Hunter, Andrew, 169 n. 

Hunter, Governor of N. J., 24. 

Hutchinson, Wm., Governor of Mass., 32. 

Import duties on slaves. See Duty. 

Indians, 22. 

Instructions to Governors, 4, li, 19, 22, 

25, 30; to naval officers, 116, 160, 186. 

See Disallowance. 
Insurrections. See Slaves. 
Iredell, James (of N. C), 62, 67. 
Ireland, 43. 

Jackson, Andrew, pardons slave-trad- 
ers, 129 n. 

Jackson, J. (of Ga.), 74, 76, 77. 

Jacksonville, Fla., 181. 

Jamaica, 4. 

Jay, William, 133. 

Jefferson, Thomas, drafts Declaration of 
Independence, 48, 49; as President, 
messages on slave-trade, 89, 95, 244; 
signs Act of 1807, 107 ; pardons slave- 
traders, 128 n. 

Jefferson, Capt., slave-trader, 185. 

Joint-cruising. See Cruising Conventions. 

Johnson (of Conn.), 44, 58. 

Johnson (of La.), 140. 

Kane, Commissioner, 162. 

Kelly, Congressman, 105. 

Keitt, L. M. (of S. C), Congressman, 175. 

Kenan, Congressman, 105. 

Kendall, Amos, I23n. 

Kennedy, Secretary of the Navy, 186. 

Kentucky, 106 n., 1710., 173 n. 

Key West, 1S5. 

Kilgore, resolutions in Congress, 175, 278. 



FRA NKLIN—NA PLES. 



331 



King, Rufus, in Federal Convention, 54, 

58, 60. 
Knoxville, Tenn., 170. 

La Coste, Capt., slave trader, 12S. 

Lafitte, E., and Co., 177. 

Langdon, John, 54, 55, 58, 60. 

Lawrence (of N. Y.), 76-S. 

1-aws. See Statutes. 

Lee, Arthur, 42 n. 

Lee, R. H., 42 n., 44. 

Legislation. See Statutes. 

Le Roy, L., slave-trader, 128 n. 

Liberia, 121, 15S. See African Agency. 

Lincoln, Abraham, loS, 123, 150, 191, 
2S4. 

Liverpool, Eng., 48, 143. 

Livingstone (of N. Y.), in Federal Con- 
vention, 58. 

Lloyd, Congressman, 99 n., 103 n. 

London, Eng., 133, 135, 136 n., 145, 149, 

153 n- 
" Louisa," slaver, 117, iiS. 
Louisiana, sale of, 70, 94 ; slave-trade to, 

72, 87-91 ; influence on S. C. repeal of 

1803, 86 ; status of slave-trade to, 87-9, 

171; State statutes, 177, 277. 
Low, I. (of N. Y.), 44. 
Lowndes, R. (of S. C), 67, 86 n., 87. 

McCarthy, Governor of Sierra Leone, 
112. 

McGregor Raid, the, 113. 

Mcintosh, Collector of Revenue, 115 n. 

McKeever, Lieut., U. S. N., 117, 118. 

Macon, N., 98, 100 n., 106. 

Madeira, 186. 

Madison, James, in the Federal Conven- 
tion, 54, 58, 60 ; in Congress, 74-7 ; as 
President, no, 112, 12S n., 246, 248. 

Madrid, Treaty of, 249. 

Maine, 166. 

Manchester, Eng., 41. 

Mansfield, Capt., slave-trader, 185. 

" Marino," slaver, 117, iiS. 

Martin, Luther (of Md.), in the Federal 
Convention, 54, 56,58, 61. 

Maryland, slavery in, 6 ; restrictions in, 
14, 15, 51, 72; attitude toward slave- 
trade, 61,70,80, 91 ; Colonial and State 
statutes, 203, 204, 210, 2i8, 219, 221, 
224, 226, 237, 244. 



Massachusetts, in slave-trade, 27-9 ; re- 
strictions in, 30-3, 73 ; attitude toward 
slave-trade, 66, 73, So, 91 ; Colonial and 
State legislation, 201, 202, 204, 213, 
221, 222, 225, 231, 241, 242, 252. 
Mason, George, 54, 56, 60-2, 67. 
Mason, J. M., 178. 
Masters, Congressman, 96 n. 
Mathew, Capt., slave-trader, 185. 
Mathew, Governor of the Bahama Is- 
lands, 166. 
Matthews (of S. C), 51. 
Meigs, Congressman, 130 n., 253. 
Memphis, Tenn, 182. 
Mercer, John (of Va.), 137 n., 141, 156 n. 
Messages, Presidential, 95, no, 112, i ^,y, 
147, 156, 163, 244, 246, 248-51, 253, 254, 
259, 261, 267, 268, 272, 273, 277, 279, 
2S2, 284. 
Mesurado, Cape, 123, 157. 
Mexico, treaty with England, 142 n. ; con- 
quest of, 154, 161, 178. 
Mexico, Gulf of, n6, 158, 159, 166 n. 
Mickle, Calvin, n8. 
Middle Colonies, 16, 25, 51, 61. 
Middleton (of S. C), Congressman, 124. 
Middletown, Conn., 37. 
Mifflin, W. (of Penn.), in Continental 

Congress, 44. 
Miles (of S. C), Congressman, 175. 
Mississippi, slavery in, 88 ; illicit trade to, 

99; legislation, 109, 247, 254, 270, 271. 
Missouri, 120. 
Missouri Compromise, 122. 
Mitchel, Gen. D. B., n5. 
Mitchel, S. L. (of N. Y.), Congressman, 

85 n. 
Mixed courts for slave-traders, 135, n;, 

150, 192. 
Mobile, Ala., illicit trade to, 116, n7, 161, 

181. 
Monroe, James, as President, messages 
on slave-trade, 114, 139, 249, 250, 251, 
254, 256, 259 ; establishment of African 
Agency, 123, 157; pardons, 128 n. 
Morbon, Wm., slave-trader, 129 n. 
Morris, Gouverneur, in Federal Conven- 
tion, 54, 58, 60, 61. 
Morris, Governor of N. J., 25. 
Moseley, Congressman, 103. 

Nansemond County, Va., 43. 
Naples (Two Sicilies), 141. 



332 



INDEX. 



Napoleon I., 70, 132, 135, 247. 

Navigation Ordinance, 17. 

Navy, United States, 108, 112, 115-7, 
120, 121, 125, 15S-60, 163, 185-7, 192, 
251, 273, 2S0, 285; reports of Secretary 
of, 186, 187, 301-12. 

Neal, Rev. Mr., in Mass. Convention, 67. 

Negroes, character of, 6. See Slaves. 

Negro plots, 10, 22, 206. 

Nelson, Hugh (of Va.), 119 n., 120 n. 

Nelson, Attorney-General, 161. 

Netherlands. See Holland. 

New England, slavery in, 6, 27, 37, 38 ; 
slave-trade by, 27-30, j]^ 5') 5- ! Co- 
lonial statutes, see under individual 
Colonies. 

New Hampshire, restrictions in, 29, 30 ; 
attitude toward slave-trade, 28, 67, 91 ; 
State legislation, 243. 

New Jersey, slavery in, 6 ; restrictions in, 
24> 25, 73 ; attitude toward slavery, 60, 
70, 179; Colonial and State statutes, 
202, 206, 220, 221, 223, 227, 239. 

New Me.\ico, 176. 

New Netherland, 17, 201, 202. 

New Orleans, illicit traffic to, 88, 112, 113, 
128 n., 161, 166, 171, 179, 180. 

Newport, R. I., 28, 35. 

New York, slavery in, 6 ; restrictions in, 
18-20; Abolition societies in, 70, 80; 
Colonial and State statutes, 205, 210, 
213, 214, 217, 227, 23c, 234, 240. 

New York City, illicit traffic at, 162, i65, 
178-81, 191, 192. 

Nichols (of Va.), Congressman, S3. 

Norfolk, Va., 162. 

North Carolina, restrictions in, 11, 12, 51, 
72; "Association" in, 43, 50; recep- 
tion of Constitution, 60, 61, 67 ; cession 
of back-lands, 88; Colonial and State 
statutes, 109, 229, 236, 237, 247. 

Northwest Territory, 88. 

Nourse, Joseph, Registrar of the Treasury, 
117 n. 

Nova Scotia, 46. 

Nunez River, Africa, 127. 

Oglethorpe, General James, 7. 
Olin (of Vt.), Congressman, 102 n. 
Ordinance of 1787, 88. 
"Ostend Manifesto," 178. 



Page, John (of Va.), 77. 

Palmerston, Lord, 145. 

Panama Congress, 140 n. 

Pardons granted to slave-traders, 128 n. 

Paris, France, Treaty of, 132, 134, 135 n. 

Parker, R. E. (of Va.), 74, 78. 

Parliament, slave-trade in, 2, 132. 

Pastorius, F. D., 21. 

Paterson's propositions, 53. 

Peace negotiations of 1783, 133. 

Pemberton, Thomas, 28. 

Pennsylvania, slavery in, 6; restrictions 
in, 20-3, 72, 73 ; attitude towards slave- 
trade, 51, 63, 66, 77, So; in Constitu- 
tional Convention, 60 ; Colonial and 
State statutes, 203-6, 210, 211, 213,219, 
221, 222, 224, 225, 231. 

Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of 
Slavery, 70, 76. 

Perdido River, 116. 

Perry, Commander, U. S. N., 161. 

Perry, Jesse, slave-trader, 129 n. 

Perry, Robert, slave-trader, 129 n. 

"Perry," U. S. S., 162, 164. 

Petitions, of Abolition societies, 51, 75-S, 
80, 81 ; of free Negroes, 8i, 82. 

Pettigrew (of S. C), 177. 

Philadelphia, 162, 166. 

Pinckney, Charles (of S. C), in Federal 
Convention, 53-5, 60. 

Pinckney, C. C. (of S. C), in Federal 
Convention, 54-58, 60. 

Pindall, Congressman, Ii9n., 120 n. 

Piracy, slave-trade made, 12 1-3, 13S, 139, 
144, 148, I55n. 

Pitkin, T. (of Conn.), 96 n., 102 n. 

Pitt, William, 132. 

Plumer, Wm. (of N. H.), 124. 

Pollard, Edward, 176. 

Pongas River, Africa, 127. 

Portugal, treaties with England, 133, 135, 
144 n., 148, 149, 249 ; slaves in colonies, 
41, 131 ; abolition of slave-trade by, 134, 
142 n. ; use of flag of, 143. 

Presidents. See under individual names. 

Price of slaves, 162. 

Prince George County, Va., 43. 

Privy Council, report to, 132. 

Proffit, U. S. Minister to Brazil, 164. 

Prohibition of slave-trade by Ga., 7, 71 ; 
S. C, II, 86; N. C, 12; Va., 14; Md., 
15; N. Y., 19; Vermont, 20; Penn., 
22, 23; Del., 24; N. J., 25 ; N. H., 30; 



NAPOLEON— SLA VE-TRADERS. 



333 



Mass., 33 ; R. I., 36 ; Conn., 37 ; United 
States, 107 ; England, 133 ; Confederate 
States, 189. See also Appendices. 

Providence, R. I., 35- 

Prussia at European Congresses, 134, 138, 
146, 269. 

Pryor, R. A. (of Va ), 171. 

Quakers. See Friends. 

Quarantine of slaves, 8. 

Quebec, 46. 

Quincy, Josiah, Congressman, 97 n., 100 n. 

Quintuple Treaty, 146, 148, 269. 

Rabun, Wm., Governor of Ga., 125. 

Ramsey, David (of S. C), 64. 

Randolph, Edmund, in the Federal Con- 
vention, 53, 54, 58. 

Randolph, John, Congressman, 103-5. 

Randolph, Thomas M., Congressman, 105. 

Registration of slaves, 8, 130 n., 250, 251. 

Revenue from slave-trade, 83, 87, 92, loS, 
109. See Duty Acts. 

Rhode Island, slave-trade in, 27, 28, 82 ; 
restrictions in, 33-6; " Association " in, 
43; reception of Constitution by, 68; 
abolition societies in, 35, 70, So; Co- 
lonial and State legislation, 202, 205, 
213, 214, 220, 221, 222, 225-7, 229. 

Rice Crop, 9, 12. 

Right of Search, 135-41, 144 n., 147-50, 
156, 184, 1S6, 192, 249, 2S0. 

Rio Grande river, 176. 

Rio Janeiro, Brazil, 143, 159, 161, 162. 

Rolfe, John, 17. 

Royal Adventurers, Company of, 2. 

Royal African Company, 2-4. 

Rum, traffic in, 28, 29, 44. 

Rush, Richard, Minister to England, 136. 

Russell, Lord John, 149, 282, 2S7. 

Russia in European Congresses, 134, 138, 
146; signs Quintuple Treaty, 146, 269. 

Rutledge, Edward, in Federal Convention, 
53-6. 61. 

Rutledge, John, Congressman, 81-4. 

St. Augustine, in. 

St. Johns, Island of, 46. 

St. Johns Parish, Ga., 46. 

St. Mary's River, Fla., in, 113, 114. 

" Sanderson," slaver, 28 n. 

Sandiford, 21. 



San Domingo, trade with, stopped, 44,92, 
93; insurrection in, 70, 80, 82,93; "^^P" 
uties from, 131. 

Sardinia, 141. 

Savannah, Ga., 8, 46, 170. 

Search. See Right of Search. 

Sewall, Wm., slave-trader, 128 n. 

Seward, Wm. H., Secretary, 150, 275, 278. 

Seward (of Ga.), Congressman, 175. 

Sharpe, Granville, 132. 

Sherbro Islands, Africa, 157. 

Sherman, Roger, in the Federal Conven- 
tion, 54, 55, 57, 60,61 ; in Congress, 74. 

Shields, Thomas, slave-trader, 12S n. 

Sierra Leone, 127, 150, 192. 

Sinnickson (of N. J.), Congressman, 78. 

Slave Power, the, 153, 199. 

Slavers : " Alexander," 1 26 n. ; " Amedie," 
136 n. ; " L'Amistad," 142 ; " Antelope " 
("Ramirez"), 126, 129; "Comet," 141 
n. ; " Constitution," 1 17, 118 ; " Creole," 
141 ; "Daphne," I26n. ; " Dorset," 112; 
"Eliza," I26n.; "Emily," 185; "Enco- 
mium," I4in.; " Endymion,"i26n.; "Es- 
peranza," I26n.; " Eugene," 112, I26n. ; 
" Fame," 162 ; " Fortuna," 136 n. ; 
" Illinois," 147 ; " Le Louis," 136 n. ; 
"Louisa," 117; "Marino," 117 ; "Mar- 
tha," 164 ; " Mary," 129 n. ; " Mathilde," 
I26n.; "Paz," 112; "La Pensee," 
126 n. ; " Plattsburg," 125 n., 126 n.; 
" Prova," 164; "Ramirez" ("Ante- 
lope"), 126 n., 129; "Rebecca," 112; 
"Rosa," 112; "Sanderson," 28 n. ; 
" San Juan Nepomuceno," 136 n. ; 
"Saucy Jack," 112; "Science," I26n. ; 
"Wanderer," 181, 185, 187; "Wild- 
fire," 191 n. ; see also Appendix C. 

Slavery. See Table of Contents. 

Slaves, number imported, 3, 5, 15 n., 19 n., 
20 n., 23 n., 25 n., 30 n., 1Z n., 36 n., 37 n., 
85, 90, 181, 182 ; insurrections of, 6, 10, 
22, 206; punishments of, 6; captured 
on high seas, 32, 51, 187 ; illegal traffic 
in, 85, 92, 109-18, 124-30, 165, 166, 180 ; 
abducted, 143. 

Slave-trade, see Table of Contents ; in- 
ternal, I, 154; coastwise, 95, 96, 104-6, 
156, 161, 184, 192, 2S6. 

Slave-traders, 2, 3, 17, 28, 29, 31, 34, 90, 
no, 116, 124-6, 145, 161, 177, 179, 181, 
185 ; prosecution and conviction of, 1 16, 
117, 118, 123, 124, 128, 161, 162, 184, 



334 



INDEX. 



191, 192; Pardon of, 128; punishment 
of, 30, 102, 120, 124, 129, 191, 192, 201, 
253, 255, 258, 263, 2S1. For ships, see 
under Slavers, and Appendix C. 

Slidell, John, 183. 

Sloan (of N. J.), Congressman, 97, icon., 
102 n., loS, 244, 245. 

Smilie, John (of Pa.), Congressman, 97 n., 
100 n., 102 n. 

Smith, Caleb B., 191. 

Smith, J. F., slave-trader, 12S n. 

Smith (of S. C), Senator, 74-7, 90. 

Smith, Capt., slave-trader, 30. 

Smuggling of slaves, 72, 105, 106, 111,113, 
114, 124, 125, 127, 128, 165, 180-3. 

Sneed (of Tenn.), Congressman, 171. 

Soule, Pierre, 178. 

South Carolina, slavery in, 5, 6, 9, 10, 90 ; 
restrictions in, 9-1 1,71; attitude toward 
slave-trade, 43, 46, 47, 50, 52, 78, 80 ; in 
the Federal Convention, 55-62, 66, 67; 
illicit traffic to, 85 ; repeal of prohibi- 
tion, 86, 87, 89, 92 ; movement to re- 
open slave-trade, 169, 171, 173 n., 174; 
Colonial and State statutes, 203, 209-12, 
215, 219, 220, 226, 229, 233, 236-41, 
275, 277. 

Southeby, Wm., 22. 

Southern Colonies, 7, 15. See under indi- 
vidual Colonies. 

Spaight, in Federal Convention, 61. 

Spain, signs Assiento, 3 ; colonial slave- 
trade of, 3 ; colonial slavery, 131 ; war 
with Dutch, 17 ; abolishes slave-trade, 
134, 135, 144 n. ; L'Amistad case with, 
142; flag of, in slave-trade, no, iii, 
112, 143, 149, 158; treaties, 207, 20S, 
249. 

Spottswood, Governor of Virginia, 13. 

Spratt, L. W. (of S. C), 171, 172, 191 n. 

Stanton (of R. I.), Congressman, 86 n., 
103. 

States. See under individual States. 

Statutes, Colonial, see under names of 
individual Colonies; State, 51-2, 71-2; 
see under names of individual States, 
and Appendices A and B ; United 
States, Act of 1794, 80, 237; Act of 
1800, 81, 239; Act of 1803, 84, 240; 
Act of 1807, 94, 245 ; Act of 1818, 
1 18, 250 ; Act of 1819, 120, 251 ; Act of 
1820, 121, 253; Act of i860, 187, 282; 
Act of 1862, 192, 285; see also Appen- 



dix B, 241, 242, 246, 255, 262, 263, 

264, 266, 272, 273, 275, 277, 279, 2S4, 

287, 28S. 
Stevens, Alexander, 175. 
Stevenson, A., Minister to England, 145. 
Stone (of Md.), Congressman, 75, 78, 105. 
Stono, S. C, insurrection at, 10. 
Sumner, Charles, 193, 288. 
Sweden, 133, 141,259; Delaware Colony, 

24; slaves in Colonies, 131. 
Sylvester (of N. Y.), Congressman, 78. 

Taylor, Zachary, 273. 

Texas, 113, 142 n., 14S, 154, 156, 165, 176, 

180, 262, 266. 
Treaties, 3, 133-5, 139, 141, 143, 146-S, 

150, 1 58, 207, 208, 226, 245, 247, 249, 

251, 256, 259, 263, 264, 269, 272, 275, 

278, 285-8. 
Trist, N., 160 n., 164, 165 n. 
Tyler, John, 147, 272, 273. 

Underwood, John C, 182. 

United States, 50, 70, 73,81,83,84,85,87, 
88,94,95,100, loi, loS, III, 114,116, 
117,119, 123, 125, 126, 127, 131, 133, 
135-49, 152, 156, 157, 15S, 161-6, 168, 
178, iSo, 186, 1S9, 191, 237, 239-41, 255, 
262-4, 266, 272, 273, 275, 277, 279, 282, 
284-8. See also Table of Contents. 

Up de Graeff, Derick, 21. 

Up den Graeff, Abraham, 2i. 

Uruguay, 142 n. 

Utrecht, Treaty of, 208. 

Van Buren, Martin, 267. 

Van Rensselaer, Congressman, 105. 

Varnum, J., Congressman, 103 n. 

Venezuela, 142. 

Vermont, 20, 51, 91, 224, 225, 228, 243. 

Verona, Congress of, 138. 

Vicksburg, Miss., 172,173, 1S2. 

Vienna, Congress of, 134. 

Virginia, first slaves imported, 17, 289; 
slavery in, 6; restrictions in, 12-14, 
72 ; frame of government of, 14 ; " As- 
sociation " in, 43, 47, 51 ; in the Fede- 
ral Convention, 56, 57, 60, 67 ; abolition 
sentiment in, 71, 74, 80; attitude on 
reopening the slave-trade, 171, 173 n.; 
Colonial and State statutes, 203-5, 
213-5, 218-21, 223, 224, 235, 243. 



SLID ELL— VANCE V. 



335 



Wallace, L. R., slave-trader, 1 29 n. 

Wain (of Penn.), Congressman, 81, 82. 

" Wanderer," case of the slaver, 181, 1S5. 

Washington, Treaty of (1S42), 146-8, 170, 
173, 183, 1S6, 272, 273, 275, 278. 

Watt, James, 151 n. 

Webster, Daniel, 145, 269. 

Webster, Noah, 64. 

Wentworth, Governor of N. H., 30. 

West Indies, slave-trade to and from, 2, 
5, 9, 17, 28, 31, 34, 36, 41, 43, 44, 50, 
112, 114, 140, 149, 264; slavery in, 5, 
16S, 194 ; restrictions on importation of 
slaves from, iS, 71, 72,84; revolution 
in, 70-4, So- 5, 92-4; mixed court in, 
150 n., 192. 

Western territory, 78, 252. 

Whitney, Eli, 152. 

Whydah, Africa, 147. 

Wilberforce, Wm., 132. 



Wilde, R. IT., 129. 

" Wildfire," slaver, 191 n., 298. 

" William," case of the slaver, 298. 

Williamsburg district, S. C, 169. 

Williamson (of N. C), in Federal Con- 
vention, 54, 58, 61. 

Wilmington, N. C, 84. 

Williams, D. R. (of N. C), Congressman, 
99 n., 106 n., 108. 

Wilson, James, in Federal Convention, 
51. 53. 57, 66. 

Wilson (of Mass.), Congressman, 2S0, 
283, 2S5. 

Winn, African agent, 157. 

Winston, Zenas, slave-trader, I29n. 

Wirt, William, 115, I23n., 127. 

Woolman, John, 21. 

Wright, (of Va.), 124. 

Yancey, W. L, 171. 



